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spectacled-renegade-writes · 8 months

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An Early Start - Chapter 25 - Final Chapter - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Ao3 Description: The accident that turns Danny half-ghost happens when he is four years old and leaves him trapped in the Ghost Zone. Clockwork finds him and takes him in to raise. But what happens when Clockwork sends Danny back to the human-world ten years later when a permanent portal appears?

Chapter 25: Epilogue

Danny learned the following day that Clockwork did not perish. He was in his room, still recovering, playing a game of chess with Vlad. He only noticed time stop because of a fly, which abruptly stopped buzzing around his room. Moments later Clockwork appeared and placed a time medallion around Vlad’s neck.

Danny choked on his breath and ignored the way his recovering body screamed at him as he jumped off his bed to hug Clockwork, knocking over the chess board in the process. Clockwork’s familiar chill and scent of oil filled his senses, and Danny just stood there and hugged him, and didn’t let go for many moments. Clockwork did not resist but instead hugged him back.

Danny had to wipe away a tear when he finally let go. “I thought… I thought you were…”

“I know.” Clockwork replied gently and Danny couldn’t help but laugh, because of course he knew.

“Where were you?” Danny demanded, but not a hint of spite in his voice.

“You were correct.” Clockwork explained, while Vlad watched on in fascination. “I was captured. But I needed to get a few affairs in order after you defeated the ghost king, which is why I could not see you right away. For that I am sorry.” Clockwork turned to look at Vlad approvingly but when he spoke again, it was clearly still directed at Danny. “Congratulations. Your mission was a success.” He turned back at Danny. “I am so very proud of you.”

Danny smiled, sitting back down at the edge of his bed. “Did you know the whole time? That Pariah would be released?”

“I did,” Clockwork confirmed, something of a hum. “It was one of the more probable timelines. But defeating Pariah Dark wasn’t your mission.”

Danny tilted his head and glanced at Vlad, like maybe he knew what Clockwork was talking about, but Vlad only shrugged so Danny turned his attention back. “Then… what was my mission?”

Something of a bemused smile crossed Clockwork’s lips as he changed from an old man to a baby. He pointed to Vlad. “He was.”

Vlad sputtered. “Me?”

Clockwork nodded. “Indeed.” Clockwork set his scepter on the floor and balanced it upright like the laws of physics shouldn’t allow, and sat atop it. “A timeline existed-“

“Existed?" Vlad interrupted despite himself. "As in past tense?”

Clockwork merely nodded again ever patiently. “Very few timelines can be erased completely but this particular timeline you erased, Danny, it was very special.”

“What happened?” Vlad couldn’t help but ask, hungry for knowledge.

Clockwork finally turned to Vlad and said, quite bluntly, “You destroy the world.”

Danny watched as Vlad paled.

“…I what?”

Clockwork casually worked on winding one of the many watches on his wrist as he spoke. “There was a timeline, the most probable timeline back then, in which Danny received his powers at fourteen. In that timeline, the most probable outcome was that he would save the world you nearly destroy. But in this timeline, as all things that change, it was different, because Danny is different.” He finished winding his watch and moved on to the next one.

“Does that mean…” Danny spoke slowly, a devastating realization dawning on him. It was quite rare for Clockwork to speak of other timelines, whether they have come to pass or have yet to be. “That if I wasn’t different, or if I couldn’t save the world, you wouldn’t have taken me in?” The realization was crushing and he felt something like betrayal. He looked down at the scattered chess pieces. “Was I just a pawn this whole time?”

Danny couldn’t bring himself to look at Clockwork but when Clockwork spoke, it was still in that same smooth, patient tone he always had. “We become close in every timeline you’re born into. You are not a pawn, Danny, and though it may not feel like it, I had nothing to do with the choices you made that led to this timeline.” He reached out and placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder as he shifted to a young man. “This timeline, the one where you received your powers when you were four, it was one of the most unlikely timelines to occur. But, it still happened, because your choices have always been yours, and you have always had your free will.”

Danny felt his shoulders relax and he looked back up at the ghost he considered his father. He knew Clockwork has never lied to him. “I’m sorry.” Danny whispered.

“Apologies are unnecessary. Time is a fickle thing and it can lead to doubt.”

“Since his mission is over,” Vlad spoke up, and they both turned their attention to him. “Does that mean Daniel must return to the Ghost Zone?” Danny couldn’t help but hear the apprehension in Vlad’s tone when he spoke.

Clockwork merely smiled, floating off his seat to get close to Danny. “That all depends on Danny.” He said. “You will always have your free will and should you choose to return to your home in the Ghost Zone, you can.”

“You mean,” Danny breathed. “I can come home?”

“You can.” Clockwork confirmed, floating back again.

A million and one thoughts flooded Danny’s mind. On one hand, a spark of excitement and longing grew for the home he missed so dearly. On the other hand... he looked at Vlad. He thought about the friends he’s made, the family he’s made, the sister he returned to. Danny didn’t know if he could leave them behind. His heart ached at the thought of each choice but he realized it really wasn’t a choice at all. “I’ll visit you,” he whispered, staring at the floor. Then stronger, he looked up at Clockwork. “All the time. I’ll visit you.” Danny watched as a gentle but proud smile cross Clockwork’s face, and Danny continued. “I’ll introduce you to Jazz and my friends. We can still have our lessons, too. But… I can’t leave the dear people I’ve gained in this world.”

“I always suspected as much,” Clockwork replied. “Even if a choice such as this has always been fifty-fifty. Still, it’ll always be difficult for a father to watch his child go out on his own.”

Danny felt himself choke up and tears sting his eyes.

Clockwork turned to Vlad. “You take good care of each other. I’ll be watching.”

“I will.” Vlad promised.

So, Clockwork took his scepter, and the medallion off Vlad’s neck, and smiled at Danny. “Until next time.”

Danny watched, while waving goodbye to his dad, as time restarted with a wave of the scepter.

A moment of silence past and Danny and Vlad looked at each other. Then, with an air of incredulity, they picked up the chess pieces off the floor, and restarted their game.

Life got better after that. Many changes happened and all of them were good. First, Vlad bought a mansion in Amity Park “so he could be closer to family”. They hung out often and learned much from each other. It also felt nice to finally have another person who understands you like no one else does.

Second, Danny introduced the two people who raised him to each other. Danny brought Jazz to the Ghost Zone and when she met Clockwork, she grew very emotional. She thanked him for taking care of her brother when she could not and asked many questions. They talked for hours, late into the night by standards of the human world, and shared many stories. Danny would later learn that Jazz would then on visit Clockwork on her own from time to time. It made him so happy that they got along so well. But he always knew they would.

Third, and most life changing, most of the humans and most of the ghosts grew to like Danny. Though his human parents weren't two of the people who saw Phantom in a new light. But Danny realized he was okay with that. They didn't matter enough to him to care, and he knew who his real parents are.

Also, of course, his human half was still mostly an outcast in the human world too, simply because he has been deemed as weird. But that didn’t bother Danny like it used to. Not everything can be fixed, something he has since learned to accept. No life was perfect, but that didn't mean it still couldn't be good.

In the Ghost Zone, for the first time ever, the other ghosts actually acknowledged him, greeted him even, as he resumed his explorations. It was a happiness Danny never thought he could achieve.

For the first time in his life ever, Danny finally felt like he belonged in both worlds, and when he closed his eyes at night, he could feel peace hum in his chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to each and every one of you. Whether you've left comments, kudos, bookmarks, or even simply read each chapter without any interaction, I am so, so grateful to each and every one of you.

During the last third of this story a lot of stressful things began happening in my life and my mental health took a decline, but this story kept me going. You all kept me going. I didn't want to disappoint you and now here we are, and I truly hope you enjoyed it to the end.

Even though I don't often reply to comments, just know I have read each and every one of them, and each and every one of them has meant so much to me. They're like little doses of serotonin for my brain.

So thank you, dear readers, so very much for reading my little story.

For one last time, thank you so much for reading, for your support/continued support, and I truly hope you have the most lovely day/night. <3

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #clockwork #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #jazz fenton #lost time #renegade writes

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spectacled-renegade-writes · 8 months

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An Early Start - Chapter 24 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 24:

One particular morning Danny awoke to an odd feeling in the air. It stuck with him throughout the day and finally made sense later when he arrived home from school, to the sight of Vlad Masters sitting in the living room, towel wrapped around his shoulders and cup of tea in his hands. Apparently the man tumbled out of the Fenton Ghost Portal, according to Danny's father. Danny pulled down his headphones he’d been wearing and narrowed his eyes.

It had already been an exhausting day. On top of the odd feeling in the air that he couldn’t shake, Dash had been particularly brutal today, and Danny was dodging him at every turn. Sometimes Danny wished Clockwork never taught him responsibility so he could use his powers to even the playing field, but instead he just used them to disappear when need be.

“Why are you here?” Danny asked.

Jazz, sitting next to Vlad and reading a book, set it down to dutifully translate for their parents as per usual.

Apparently their mother had no qualms about playing dirty because she poured hot tea on Vlad’s lap before gritting out, “Totally valid question.”

“Still steaming?” Vlad quipped.

“You have no idea.” Maddie replied before turning on her heal and promptly leaving the room.

Vlad seemed completely unbothered as he turned back to Danny and answered, “I was just, you know, passing through, and then I saw that marvelous battle suit in the basement and thought, ‘since I can’t just destroy Jack and take it, I suppose I’ll steal its secrets right out from under his nose!”

Vlad was definitely charismatic, Danny would give him that. A heavy silence fell over the room for a brief pause before both his father and Vlad promptly burst into laughter.

Vlad wiped a tear of laughter away before saying, “Oh, I swear, I am such a josher.”

Danny glanced at his sister, who was pretending to read her book, and made a look like they’d talk later. After all, Danny had told her all about Vlad. She nodded and left the room too, following their father who had followed their mother.

Despite being alone now, Danny still did not want to risk his parents potentially overhearing him so he still spoke in sign language. But when he raised his hands, he paused, then dropped them. Really, what else was there to say? He’s tried so hard to get through to Vlad but now he’d just sound like a broken record, and Vlad had already told him exactly why he was here too. Danny sighed, and planned on just fully walking away for the moment to think of a plan. But, just as he was about to, a small statue of Jack began to beep and its eyes flashed red, and Danny turned his attention away from Vlad.

Jack and Maddie both ran back into the room and Jack pressed a button hidden inside the statue. Above it, a family photo, which still hasn’t been updated to include Danny, flipped into a screen which read “Ghost Zone Radar”.

Danny saw a radar and an army of ghosts getting closer and closer, and put two and two together. He turned to his sister and asked her to stall their parents before running to the basement, transforming as he did, long coat billowing behind him. Lights and sirens blared in the lab as he entered and he hovered before the portal, and steeled himself. Whatever was about to happen, it was going to be huge.

Then, a single head popped out of the portal. A single head which belonged to none other than the Box Ghost, who saw Danny and shouted, as he always does, “Beware!”

Danny faltered for just a moment. Because what? The Box Ghost was definitely not an army. But… Danny also knew that the Fenton equipment really never malfunctioned. So, he waited to see what would happen next. It did not disappoint.

An ecto-blast shot through the portal sending Danny crashing to the floor. When he regained his composure and looked up, Skulker stood over him, boot on his chest. “What’s going-“ But Skulker quickly interrupted him.

The ghost gestured back to the portal and called, “I told you there was a way out through here.” One by one, the heads of ghosts Danny has battled, and ones he hasn’t, peeked their head through. Then, in a single instant, seemingly every ghost in the entire Ghost Zone rapidly exited the portal. “Now go, go, go!” Skulker yelled.

It struck Danny that every single one of them looked terrified. Danny tried desperately to search for Clockwork amongst the crowd but did not see him. Instead, Danny fazed through the floor to escape Skulker’s boot before flying up, grabbing him by the hand, and pulling them both outside, above the house with the rest of the ghosts. He let go once they were outside.

Above Skulker Danny saw Sidney riding on the back of Princess Dora in her dragon form.

“Sidney!” Danny called. “What is going on? Why is everyone so scared?”

Sidney drew closer but as he opened his mouth to speak, Ember interrupted and answered for him. She said the worst possible two words in response. “Pariah Dark.”

Danny paled. Once again, he found himself searching amongst the ghosts. “Clockwork…” He whispered, before looking back to Sidney and speaking up. “Where’s Clockwork?”

Sidney’s frown did not bode well for Danny. “I don’t know,” Sidney replied. “He wasn’t with us.”

Panic seized in Danny’s chest. Pariah Dark was one of very few ghosts who could actually destroy Clockwork, and Pariah would have incentive to as well, considering Clockwork’s power. Or worse, depending on how you look at it, Pariah could have also enslaved Clockwork instead to do his bidding. Danny’s panic began to seep into the real world as ice started to crawl up his neck.

A momentary distraction happened in the form of an ecto-blast from what Danny was sure was a ghost that didn’t like him, and running on pure adrenaline alone, he released some of the built up pressure in his core and shot a blast of ice in the general direction it came from. He wasn’t even looking as he shot, panic’s hold still gripping tight to his senses.

The thing Danny ended up hitting was the front wheel of Johnny 13’s motorcycle. Danny watched as it hit. It did nothing to quell his panic. “Johnny I-“

“The kid’s cool,” Johnny shouted to the others. “Let’s bounce.” Johnny shot an ecto-blast of his own to melt the ice, winked at Danny, and dispersed with the rest of the ghosts. Save for Sidney.

Sidney lowered himself on Dora to eye level with Danny and said, “Pariah Dark has destroyed our homes. It’s not safe in the Ghost Zone anymore. I’m sorry to do this to you, Danny, but we have no other choice.”

It really said something when Danny felt like he wanted to throw up even as a ghost.

“I need to find Clockwork, make sure he’s safe.”

“You can’t!” Sidney shouted. “If you go through that portal you will die, all of you. I’m sorry about Clockwork, I really am, but you can’t. Please.”

Danny knew Sidney was right. It didn’t make him feel any better. Numbly, he nodded.

“Good,” Sidney said. “Now, I have to go. I’m sorry.” With that, Danny watched as his friend flew away, just as his human parents exited their home to begin shooting. Danny disappeared and came in through the back door of the house.

In human form, Danny could feel the physical effects that his panic had on him. He wrapped his arms around himself and stumbled back into the living room. Vlad was nowhere to be seen. Danny didn’t care right now. Jazz, who had remained in the living room, ran to his aid.

“Danny,” his sister said. “What’s going on?” Danny hadn’t realized he was crying until Jazz used her thumb to wipe away a tear from his face.

His hands shook far too bad as he answered, “It’s bad.”

“Bad?” Jazz moved Danny to the couch and sat him down. “Bad how?”

Danny swallowed down the bile he could feel rising in his throat. Now that he knew he was crying, and it was probably the panic, he couldn’t force himself to stop. Smaller and smaller the world closed in on him and he wondered just what he was supposed to do to stop this. He knew how dangerous Pariah was. Yet, despite this knowledge, and despite all the ghosts in the human world, despite the potential end of the world, the reason why Danny was panicking so bad was because he had no way of knowing if Clockwork still existed, and right now the probability is that he didn’t. Danny buried his face in his hands and his sister quickly sat next to him and hugged him. “Just breathe, Danny.” She said. Her hug was not comforting. It was suffocating.

It turns out, Vlad was in the basement, which Danny learned when he reappeared with Jack and Maddie. “It’s too dangerous to go home in these conditions,” Jack was saying. “You can stay in the guest room.”

From his spot on the couch, hood pulled over his head, obscuring his face, Danny glared at Vlad. Danny had too much on his mind to deal with Vlad at the moment, and now he was staying the night.

Danny has since recollected himself, mostly. If anyone were to look close enough, they’d see the way his face was flushed or the red around his eyes. Danny knew his parents didn’t notice. He couldn’t help but wonder if Vlad did.

“That is very generous indeed.” Vlad said smoothly, pulling his gaze back to Jack. “I’ll just go get settled in then.” He helped himself to the stairs. Despite Danny’s feelings, he left Jazz behind and followed him. Danny gestured for Jazz to remain.

The moment Danny closed the door behind the two of them in the guest room Vlad said, “Come to try and convert me again?”

Danny did not speak in ghost. He knew his parents could come bursting in at any moment, especially his father. He remained silent until Vlad turned around to face him. Danny cursed the way his hands still shook slightly. “No,” Danny replied, and he could feel the glare and the frown still present in his own expression but did nothing to change it. Right now he didn’t care to be pleasant. “I came to ask you to put off your plans for later.”

“Later?” Vlad mused. “Why ever would I do that?”

Danny bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from screaming in frustration. For as bad as a human scream sounded, a ghost’s sounded much, much worse, and not even his ghostly wail. Just pure pain and frustration bubbled up to sound like static, shattering glass, and agony. “Because there are more important things happening. P-A-R-I-A-H D-A-R-K is free and he is on his way.”

“Honestly Daniel, your parents aren’t around. Just speak to me like a ghost.”

Between the blatant disregard for what he just said and the jab at the manner with which he spoke, Danny was insulted. Out of pure spite he continued on in sign language. “Ghost king. He’s free. Do you know who he is?”

“Of course I know who he is!” Vlad snapped then crossed his arms and pointedly said, “I just don’t care. It’s not my problem.”

Danny gaped. Vlad couldn’t be serious right now. But, Danny wasn’t in the mood to lose his temper, so he leveled Vlad with a glare that could kill and told him, “It will be.” Then promptly turned and left the room.

Jazz was there when Danny entered his bedroom. “Danny, what’s going on?” Her expression was filled with a familiar and comforting concern. Danny sat beside her on his bed.

“A bad force in the Ghost Zone has been released. All the ghosts that appeared aren’t invading us. They’re running.”

“Running?”

Danny nodded. “From his wrath.”

He could see they way his sister paled. “What do we do?”

“You? Nothing. I’m sure mom and dad will be working on some form of defense. You help them with that. Me? I’m still working on that.”

“Danny,” Jazz said gently. “You can’t do this all on your own.”

“I’m not. I’m going to ask the other ghosts for help. Some of them are my friends.” Danny felt exhausted. “But not today. There’s nothing we can do right now anyway.”

Danny knew Jazz could tell something else was bothering him. Despite being apart for ten years she was still a master at reading him and frankly, he needed someone to confide in. “Clockwork wasn’t amongst the other ghosts.”

“Clockwork?” Jazz asked. “You mean the ghost that raised you?”

Numbly, Danny nodded. He could feel the ice crawling back up his neck and tried to brush it away, only to succeed in frosting over his hands too.

“That means…”

“He might be gone.”

Jazz’s face fell and she hugged him for the second time today. “Danny, I’m so sorry.”

Danny accepted the hug this time. He needed it. It was comforting. Slowly, the ice started to melt away under Jazz’s warm embrace, but the tightness in his chest remained.

Danny finally picked up his phone to message his friends later that night. He had about a dozen missed texts from them.

Danny: Sorry to keep you guys waiting. A lot happened.

Tucker: What’s going on? My parents are freaking out!

Sam: Are you okay?

Danny: I’m fine… physically. But right now Vlad Plasmius is in the guest room right next to me and the king of all ghosts is free. I don’t know when he’ll make his move but that’s why all the ghosts are here.

Tucker: Danny… what exactly is the “king of all ghosts”?

Danny: Not just bad news. The worst news. He is both the most powerful and the most evil ghosts there is.

Sam: What about Clockwork? You said he’s the ghost of time right? Can you ask him for help?

Danny didn’t respond right away. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut and held his phone close to his chest.

Sam: Danny? You still there?

Danny: Yes. Sorry. Clockwork is nowhere to be found.

Tucker: There is no way he didn’t come through with the rest of the ghosts… right?

Sam: Tucker…

Tucker: Right? It sounds like we’ll need all the help we can get!

Danny: I think something bad happened to him.

A pregnant pause lapsed in the conversation as Danny’s friends surely tried to digest this information. But Danny, he tried not to think about Clockwork’s potential fate, but instead on what he was going to do. He knew he had a big day ahead of him tomorrow.

Danny’s phone pinged and he looked back down at it.

Sam: I’m so sorry Danny.

Danny: I don’t want to think about it right now.

Tucker: What can we do to help?

Danny: We’ll talk more tomorrow. You guys get some rest. Goodnight.

Sam: Goodnight.

Tucker: Night man.

Danny shut his phone, rolled over on his bed and shut his eyes. He embraced the comforting chill of the ice that enveloped his room. He did not sleep that night.

Danny’s friends looked worried about him at school the next day, but they didn't get to talk until lunch. He knew his disheveled appearance didn’t help. Besides doing the bare minimum for hygiene, he hadn’t brushed his hair and he wore the same clothes as yesterday, and when he saw himself in the mirror, he knew he looked deader than his ghost half.

“Dude, you okay?” Tucker asked. Danny merely slid his tired eyes over to him and did not respond. “Sorry, standard question. Late night?”

An ecto-puss appeared from the floor and stole Danny’s lunch right out of his hands. “Understatement.” Danny answered.

“Fen-turd!”

Danny’s fists shook at his side. He was in no mood to deal with Dash right now. He began a quick pace out of the cafeteria and his friends followed, forgoing their own lunches.

“Hey!” Dash called. “Don’t think you can run away from me!”

Danny quickly rounded the corner with his friends, grabbed on to their shoulders, checking to make sure the coast was clear, and turned the three of them invisible. Seconds later Dash turned the corner too, paused in confusion, before stalking away shouting, “You can run! But you can’t hide!”

Danny doubled back with his friends and turned them visible once they reached their lockers. He sighed and leaned up against his locker.

“Danny, you okay?” Sam asked.

Danny merely waved her off and replied, “Just tired. I’m fine.”

Both of his friends frowned and Sam reached out. “Danny, I know Clockwork raised you. If you want to talk-“

Danny took the outstretched hand and squeezed it before he let it go, trying momentarily for a tight smile. “I can’t think about that right now.”

“Yeah, but,” Tucker replied. “Maybe you should. You look like you’re running on fumes again.”

Danny’s friends took a step back after Tucker said that and it took a moment for Danny to realize they’d done that because the look he shot Tucker was paired with glowing eyes. He hunched in on himself. “Sorry.”

“Hey,” Tucker said. “It’s okay. If you don’t want to talk about it then how about we focus on what we should do.”

However, Danny didn’t get a chance to respond because his ghost sense went off. The three friends looked at each other before they all took off, looking for the source. Luckily Dash lost their trail. However someone else found it. When they rounded the corner they were met face to face with Vlad Plasmius. Danny scowled and transformed right then and there. The longer Vlad was around the more Danny began to realize that him being here at the same time the ghost king escaped was no coincidence. He turned to his friends, who were behind him, and told them to, “Stay.”

Danny spoke in Ghost Speak as he turned his attention back to Vlad. “If you’re here to fight, I’m not doing it where my friends can get hurt.” Danny lifted off the floor and flew right at Vlad, then straight past him, through the wall and to the football field. He could feel Vlad following him.

“Calm down, Daniel! I didn’t come here to fight you, I have other things to worry about.” Vlad called after him.

Danny landed and turned to face him. “Finally became your problem, too?” He smirked. It was the very first time Danny has been so hostile toward Vlad. But right now, he had too much going on to put in the effort of being nice, especially since he was thinking more and more that this was Vlad’s fault.

Danny’s hostility momentarily took Vlad by surprise before he responded, or was about to, if it weren’t for the Fright Knight leading a charge toward them.

Of course. How could Danny forget? The Fright Knight was Pariah Dark’s right hand man.

The Fright Knight slashed his sword toward them but both of them dodged out of the way at the last moment. The Ghost King’s army attacked and Danny was forced to fight, firing off shots of ecto-blasts and ice. In his distraction he was about to in impaled by a soldier he didn’t notice sneak up to him but before it could deliver a blow, Vlad shot it away. Okay, now Danny really knew something was up. He knew Vlad hasn’t had a change of heart so the only way he would help him is if he wanted something.

The momentary distraction of helping Danny was enough of an opening for the Fright Knight to scoop up Vlad by the front of his shirt and demand, “The king’s prize, return it!”

“I don’t have it!” Vlad insisted, then changed his expression to a hopeful smile. “But, if you join me, perhaps together-“

“Are you kidding me?!” Danny yelled, interrupting whatever ‘tantalizing’ offer Vlad was about to give the Fright Knight. Danny was mad. He wasn’t just mad, he was furious. The Fright Knight finally officially confirmed Danny’s suspicion and the first thing Vlad tries to do is to recruit the Fright Knight to join him to rule? Danny has tried so hard to get through to Vlad but in that moment, he finally, finally, realized that it might be all for naught. He nearly wanted to cry from pure frustration alone. But he didn’t. Instead he yelled, “All of this and you’re still trying to amass power? There are more important things going on and you’re the cause! What is so wrong with peace?!”

Despite being a ghost, all of the sudden Danny felt like the wind was knocked out of him. Like all of the sudden everything in his whole entire life became clear. Like something deep down, that he’s never known, has finally come to light. Perhaps right this moment wasn’t the best time to have this revelation but at the same time, as he looked at the Fright Knight, he thought that maybe this was the perfect time. The thing he’s craved all his life, the thing his core yearns for. Peace.

Slowly, he glided toward the Fright Knight. “We don’t have to fight.” Danny said, his voice much more calm than a moment ago. “I know you’re his right hand man but I also know I’ll never be able to get through to him, but maybe I can get through to you. Help us defeat him. Please. We don’t need any more blood shed.”

From where he was still held in the Fright Knight's grip, Vlad went wide eyed.

The Fright Knight chucked Vlad and threw him across the field, then pointed his sword at Danny. “You foolish, ignorant child! I serve the king and the king alone!”

Danny felt the deep sadness that he often felt after an encounter with Vlad, but he can now place what it is. It was his core’s response to failing its purpose. “So be it.” Danny whispered. He inhaled as deep as he could and a moment later, let it out, releasing a ghostly wail mere feet from the Fright Knight. The loyal knight went flying back with a yell, toppling over and landing in a skid on his knees. He stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance and standing tall. Powerful indeed.

“Fool!” The Fright Knight yelled. “All I wanted to do was seize the ring and return to Pariah’s keep. But now you give me no choice. By the authority vested in me by my lord and liege…” Both Danny and Vlad watched on in horror as the Fright Knight sailed his sword into the ground in the center of the football field. Immediately, green ectoplasmic light flooded their surroundings and they watched as it spread from the field and began to make its way through the entirety of Amity Park. “I claim this town, now and forever, under the banner of Lord Pariah, the king of all ghosts!” One by one the spreading light stilled the king’s soldiers in place but as it did, it created a dome around the entire town, covering it in an impenetrable force field. “The sword is sunk, your die now cast, the sword removed shall signal fast. Make reappear the ring thou hast or your next day shall be your last.” In a puff of bats, the Fright Knight disappeared, leaving his proclamation hanging in the air.

The ring thou hast. Danny finally understood. This all happened because Vlad tried to steal the Ring of Rage in his quest for power. If Danny had to guess, he had tried to steal the Crown of Fire too, which is what caused all of this. Maybe it was because he grew up in the Ghost Zone, but Danny thought every ghost knew that the Crown of Fire was in the tomb with the king himself. There were so many things Danny wanted to say, so many things he was feeling.

In a way, and Danny didn’t know why, he felt a deep and visceral betrayal from Vlad. But, Danny didn’t get to voice any of this because his mother’s voice came through a loudspeaker.

“Children of Amity Park!” Maddie yelled. “Report to the safe bosom of the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle.”

“Maddie.” Vlad gasped and teleported away before Danny’s very eyes. Danny flew off too and changed back to human, before returning to the football field to meet his mother.

Danny rode home with his friends and his sister. In the back of the vehicle, he explained everything that happened. All four of them used sign so that Maddie would not hear them.

“This ‘Ring of Rage’,” Jazz said. “Do you know where it is?”

Danny shook his head. “If it’s not with the Ghost King then it could be anywhere.”

“What does it look like?” Sam asked.

Danny shrugged. “Clockwork always told me to stay away from his keep so I did. I don’t know if any ghost knows what it looks like. But I think I’d know it if I saw it.”

When they got back to the safety of Fenton Works, Danny’s friends and Jazz stayed upstairs while Danny followed his mother to the basement.

Jazz stopped him. “Where are you going?”

Danny paused. In the silence he could hear Vlad talking downstairs. “Vlad is down there. I’ll be right back.”

“…Okay. Just be careful.”

Danny smiled reassuringly before turning and continuing on his way. When Danny got to the basement and saw Vlad, he saw an odd look on the man’s face, and watched him turn away.

Danny crossed his arms around himself. He honestly didn’t know what he was trying to accomplish by going to the basement, just that he didn’t want to leave Vlad alone with the thing the man was trying to steal.

Danny watched from the sidelines as Vlad helped Maddie work on the suit that hung by chains from the ceiling. “This suit is the only hope we have to punch through that dome. But I still don’t think we’ll be able to perfect the neural receptors.” Maddie said. Danny watched as his parents got into an argument about who would then wear the suit, and Danny knew he wasn’t needed down here, and frankly he didn’t want to be here, so he went back upstairs. With the suit not fully operational he figured it’d be safe to leave Vlad alone for a while.

“Hey, Danny,” Jazz greeted when he walked into the room. The three of them were watching the news. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine.” Danny replied automatically as he plopped down on the floor with the rest of them.

“What’s going on downstairs?” Sam asked.

Danny glanced through the kitchen to the entrance of the lab. “They’re working on the battle suit. Vlad wants to steal it but I don’t think he will until it’s operational.”

“Shouldn’t we be worried?” Tucker asked.

“It’s the least of our problems right now,” Danny replied. The rest of them nodded because yeah, he was right. After a pause Danny said, “I’m going to find the other ghosts. I can’t take down the king alone.”

“You shouldn’t take down the king alone.” Jazz stressed. “Danny, are you sure this needs to be your responsibility?”

Danny could hear what was left unsaid. I can’t lose you again. Danny shared the sentiment. He couldn’t lose her again either, that's why he needed to do this. He took a deep breath and nodded.

Jazz covered her mouth and stood up. “I need to… I’m sorry. I’ll be right back.” The first few tears fell before she was able to turn around, and she left the room. Danny’s chest ached. Upsetting his sister was one of his least favorite things and he seemed to do it so often. He desperately wanted to call out to her and apologize. But he couldn’t, for more than one reason.

Danny couldn’t lose her or anyone else. He didn’t know if he’d ever see Clockwork again and he couldn’t risk losing anybody else he holds dear. Not to mention he couldn’t stand by while the lives of innocent people hung in the balance as well. They had people that they’d miss and that would miss them, too. Danny pulled his sleeves over his hands and gripped the fabric to ground himself before turning back to his friends. “Come on,” he said, after pulling his hands out of his sleeves. “We need to find the other ghosts. Let’s go.”

So, the three of them went into the garage and pulled out the Spector Speeder and after Danny turned back into a ghost, they went on their way.

Danny didn’t know who he was looking for. Just the first ghost he can come across he supposed. Danny and his friends searched the streets from the sky until Danny’s ghost sense went off over a sporting goods store. He looked over to his friends and pointed to it. While his friends went around, Danny fazed through the wall, searching for anyone. He did. He found every ghost he knew. Behind him, Danny’s friends found their way inside. The large group of them found themselves surrounding an LED campfire.

Danny could not speak English like the other full ghosts could so as he spoke, he translated his Ghost Speak for his friends. Luckily, the other ghosts seemed to understand so they spoke English. “The Fright Knight is looking for the king’s ring.” Danny explained. “It’s missing.”

“Pariah’s only been free for a day and he’s already destroyed our homes. Do you know how this happened?” Ember asked.

Danny nodded. “I do. But right now it’s not important.”

“Have you found Clockwork?” Sidney asked. “He’d be our best bet at defeating the king.”

Danny swallowed down his grief and shook his head. “Right now… I think he’s gone.”

“Then what now?” Johnny asked.

“We can’t let Pariah Dark find his ring. But I’m gonna need all of you to help me put him back to sleep.” At their incredulous silence Danny continued. “I know how dangerous this is. But it needs to be done, and I can’t do this on my own. Clockwork… Clockwork isn’t here anymore, so it’s up to us. We have to stop him.”

A heavy silence fell over the ghosts. The only way to restore peace was to defeat the king, this Danny knew. He knew he could not even begin to convince such a corrupt tyrant of peace. This is the only way.

“Danny…” Sidney said. “We can’t.”

Danny’s heart dropped.

“Look,” Ember said. “We like you, kid.” She looked around. “Well, like half of us do. But this isn’t some run of the mill ghost. This is Pariah Dark. I’m sorry Danny but we can’t help you.”

“But-“

The ghosts said nothing more as they disappeared from the room.

Danny rode in the Spector Speeder with his friends on the way home. He kept his hood up and wrapped his arms tightly around himself.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Danny.” Tucker said.

Danny didn’t reply.

“We’ll find another way.” Sam tried to encourage.

Unbeknownst to them, he’d already thought of another way. Though he had little faith that it would work.

When they arrived back home, Danny split off from his friends and went in search of Vlad. He found the man in the kitchen with a cup of tea. The door to the basement was open and Danny could hear not only his parents, but the parents of his friends now too. So, Danny chose to speak with his hands. “Can we talk outside?” He asked, once he got Vlad’s attention.

Vlad carefully set his cup down. “Fine.” He said, then stood up and exited the kitchen, Danny following in step. Once they reached the outside, Vlad leaned up against the parked Spector Speeder while Danny crossed his arms. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

Now that they were alone, Danny felt free to speak in ghost. But he didn’t speak right away. Instead, he took a moment to study Vlad. Danny felt that deep sadness whenever he looked at the man and there was so much he wanted to say to him. Danny thought back to all the interactions the two of them have had before. Despite how hopeless Danny felt now, he tried to put the things he’s realized about Vlad to the front of his mind. Quietly, Danny spoke. “Where’s the ring?”

“How should I know?” Vlad retorted.

Danny had to take another breath to center himself. He tried to keep his tone as neutral as he could. “I don’t want to play this game right now. We both know you stole, hid it, and now you’re waiting for your moment to safely steal it back. So let’s not do this, okay? Innocent lives, humans and ghosts alike, are in danger.”

“You always were smarter than I gave you credit for,” Vlad said cockily, casually inspecting his fingernails. “But I should’ve expected as much from Clockwork’s ward. The whispers of you in the Ghost Zone have only grown since you arrived back in the human world.”

“So you know what the whispers were before.” Now or never. “Then you should know that it was lonely.” Vlad stiffened. “Everyone feared me because they feared Clockwork, so nobody dared come near me. I saw the same loneliness in you the first time we fought.”

“What are you getting at?” Vlad growled.

“Have you had anyone in the last twenty years? Or are you like me?”

“You know nothing of loneliness, boy,” Vlad snapped, pulling away from the Spector Speeder and standing up straight. His fists shook at his sides. “You had Clockwork and before that, your sister. You’ve always had someone in your corner so don’t you dare compare our loneliness!”

Danny remained level during this outburst and waited patiently for Vlad to finish before replying. “I know what it’s like to want a friend but not have any. I know what it’s like to be ignored, to be rejected.” With each word, Vlad’s shoulders slowly began to slacken. “I know what it’s like to be the only one of your kind in the whole world. You can’t tell me I don’t know what that feels like.”

“Fine, I’ll give you that but-“

“Even though I always had someone, I didn’t have anyone who understood me, I still don’t, and neither do you. Why do you fight so hard, Vlad?”

Vlad was losing his carefully put together composure more and more by the second. “Because- because…”

“You want a family.” Danny said. “It’s all you’ve ever wanted. Am I right?”

Vlad did not answer.

“We can be a family. You don’t have to hold resentment in your heart. You can have peace. We’re two of a kind. Please, Vlad. Where’s the ring?”

All at once Vlad’s walls went right back up and he scowled. “You dreadful child! You had me going there for a minute.”

“What do you-“

“You really are good at using your enemy’s weakness against him. Try to butter me up, try to say the right things to get under my skin, all to get what you want. You’re even worse than me.” Vlad snapped.

Danny was floored. It hadn’t even occurred to him that what he said might be taken that way. It hadn’t even occurred to him it could. He’d meant every word he said and he said as much. “I wasn’t… I meant all of it!”

“Yeah, sure you did. I will not be taken for a fool.”

Just as Vlad’s had earlier, Danny’s own fists shook at his sides. “Please, listen to me! I’m not trying to take you for a fool. Don’t you want to be happy? We can help each other!”

“Whoever said I wasn’t happy?” Vlad asked, back to his cocky tone after gaining the upper hand in the conversation again.

Danny knew Vlad was lying but he also knew there was nothing he could do about it. As much as it pained Danny to admit, Vlad was a lost cause, and talking would not get him to his goal. There was only one thing left to do. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get through to you, Vlad. I really am. Every timeline is possible and I wish we could have been friends in this one. But I’m done trying to convince you. So, if I can’t convince you to help me, I’ll have to make you. I’m sorry.” Vlad had no time to react before Danny shot an ecto-blast at Vlad, sending him flying out of the ghost shield surrounding Fenton Works. Danny followed and transformed, then grabbed Vlad by the collar. Vlad transformed too and tried to break free but Danny held tight as he flew the both of them back to the Casper High football field. Danny threw Vlad across the other side of the field while landing himself right in front of the Fright Knight’s sword.

“Daniel, what are you doing?” Vlad demanded.

Danny gripped the hilt of the sword.

“Are you crazy?! The sword is a signal. If you pull it out, it’s a sign of surrender!”

“I know.” Danny replied. “And I’ll do it if you don’t tell me where the ring is.”

“You wouldn’t.” Vlad growled.

“Yes,” Danny said. “I would.” This was idiotic. Danny knew this was idiotic. But he was fed up and desperate, and he’s fully, truly run out of other options. So, he pulls out the sword.

The reaction is instantaneous. The earth around them began to shake and the force field covering the town seemed to turn to glass before cracking and shattering altogether. Piece by piece the force field did fall, crashing to the ground below as the entire town found itself pulled into the Ghost Zone. In the distance Danny could hear the screams of civilians but he knew they were of terror and not danger. He also knew he needed to act quick because that wouldn’t last long. However, the sword was pulled from his hands and returned to the Fright Knight, Pariah Dark himself by his side, wearing the Crown of Fire.

In that same moment, Pariah charged his power and blasted a beam of bright red ecto-energy at both Danny and Vlad. The pain that washed over him was incredible. Seconds felt like they passed in minutes and both he and Vlad were forced out of their transformations as they collapsed to the ground. For more than a few moments, Danny could not move. But he did notice something fall out of the pocket of his hoodie as he had fallen. He wrapped it in his hand with the last of his strength as Pariah picked both him and Vlad up as the king exclaimed, “They’re ghosts and humans! Is there no end to this day’s surprises?”

But Danny could feel himself losing consciousness and he knew he couldn’t. If he did, they would both die. He needed to get Pariah away from them. Danny knew what he was about to do would sap the last of his energy so he needed Vlad to get them out of this. With his arms restrained by Pariah, Danny reeled his head back and used it to hit Vlad in the nose to wake him up. He had no time to see if it worked before he bit down on Pariah’s hand, successfully getting him to drop them. Danny didn’t even have the energy to speak as he lifted the Ring of Rage into Pariah’s sight.

“The ring!” The Fright Knight gasped from his place beside Pariah. “Give that to the king now!”

You want it? Danny thought. Go get it. He created a shard of ice and placed it through the ring. Danny’s vision was blacking out. He pointed it in whatever direction was opposite of the voice and used a charged ecto-blast to shoot it far into the Ghost Zone.

“You insolent, little-“ Danny passed out before he could hear the rest.

Danny awoke slowly then all at once. His head pounded and he felt nausea in his throat. When he looked around, Vlad was nowhere to be found. As Danny struggled to sit up, his friends rushed into his room.

“Danny, you’re okay!” Sam exclaimed.

Danny stumbled and Tucker rushed forward to catch him. “Woah, man, take it easy.”

But Danny didn’t have time to take it easy, nor did he have time to explain what happened to his friends. Danny’s plan was an escape plan, not a victory plan. He knew Pariah had the ring. He gathered his bearings, transformed, then took his friends by the hands and flew down to the basement, remaining invisible as he watched his mother present the finished-as-it-can-be battle suit to the rest of their parents and Jazz. Danny paid no mind to the way she said, “Using it could be fatal.” Instead, he watched as everyone began to knock each other out as each person volunteered to be the unlucky one to use the suit. It was the perfect distraction to steal it. Danny set his friends down, grabbed the suit, and pulled it up to the roof of the house.

He saw his friends make it upstairs as he entered the suit in human form. Danny kneeled down and took his hands off the controllers so he could speak to them.

“Danny, please,” Sam begged.

“Come on, guys,” Danny smiled. “You didn’t think it was always going to be as easy as shoving the Box Ghost in the thermos, did you?”

Tucker rubbed his arm. “Your mom used the word ‘fatal’.”

“Please, Danny.” Sam said. “I know losing Clockwork hurt you but-“

Danny shook his head. “This isn’t about Clockwork. I’m the only one who can do this.” By the look on his friends’ faces, he knew they knew this too. “I’m sorry, and if I don’t make it back, tell Jazz I’m sorry, too.”

Thunder roared above them and red clouds swirled and shaped into the face of Pariah. “Humans, hear my decree!”

Danny knew he was out of time. “Tucker, I’ll need you to drop the ghost shield on my way out, okay?”

“Okay,” Tucker replied, expression turning steely. “Be careful, dude.”

Tucker ran off but Sam lingered for a moment, staring, and Danny smiled at her, and she too ran off. Danny transformed and as he did, the suit responded to his power and transformed with him. This time when he smiled at Sam, she smiled back, and Danny took off into the sky.

Vlad watched, invisible, as Danny took to the sky. The boy’s earlier words still ringing clear in his mind. Every timeline is possible and I wish we could have been friends in this one.

In the last twenty years, no one has shown him the type of kindness Daniel has, and no matter what he did, the boy always persisted, always, until today. Today Vlad saw Danny finally give up, after all this time. He’s seen hurt in the boy’s eyes during every single one of their encounters but today… today it was different, it was resigned. It hurt.

Despite Vlad’s best efforts, everything Danny said to him during their conversation in front of the house stuck out in his mind and refused to let go. He wanted so desperately to believe that this boy was trying to manipulate him, trying to play on his emotions to get the ring. But when Vlad accused him of such, he saw nothing short of raw devastation on Daniel’s face. It was the moment the boy gave up.

But now, seeing the boy soar across the sky, surely sacrificing his life for these people who he did not know and have barely shown him any kindness, everything Daniel told him, and tried to tell him in the past, it finally clicked. A switch in Vlad’s brain, the one filled with all the emotion he’s repressed and swallowed down for so long, it flipped, and everything, all of the words Daniel has tried to tell him, it all came flooding into his psyche and his heart, and he realized he could not let the boy die. This boy… he was Vlad’s only family. They were, after all, two of a kind, and he couldn’t let the child he’s grown to see as a son perish for his greed.

Whether he liked it or not, this child was the only person on the planet who understood him and if it meant letting go of his resentment to be there for him, then all the better.

Vlad will never know how he convinced the other ghosts to join the fight.

The battle was easy before it was difficult, as most things are, but the suit was powerful and Danny used it to his advantage. The small blast of power did a lot of damage to a lot of soldiers so he used more than a small blast to get through them. But, he was losing power, and he still needed it to defeat Pariah. Not a minute after he thought this, he heard Sam and Tucker show up in the Spector Speeder. Danny felt panic seize in his chest and he quickly motioned for them to leave.

“We’re not staying.” Tucker assured with a grin. “We’re just making a delivery.”

A trapdoor underneath the Spector Speeder opened and Danny watched in unbridled amazement as the ghosts that denied to help previously appeared before him one by one. Danny grinned as his friends made their exit and his allies began to fight.

“Now go, defeat him. So I will be free to hunt you another day!” Skulker called to him. Danny only snorted as he made is way into the castle.

The castle was eerily silent as he made his way to Pariah, and even with the suit, the fight with Pariah was a difficult one. Each attack Danny threw at him, the king only stumbled for a moment. The powerful ghost with such a wholehearted mastery in the element of fire negated each and every one of Danny’s ice attacks like he was simply being sprinkled with water. He easily recovered from the ecto-blasts and fumbled only momentarily against Danny’s ghostly wail. Danny knew that very fumble was his only opening. So, he used the power of the suit to split himself into four, something he could not do with his own power, and wailed again while his clone used that fumble to push Pariah back into his tomb.

Tick by painful tick the suit’s charge fell and Danny’s energy depleted. He got Pariah in the tomb but at what cost? He couldn’t keep it closed. Pariah screamed and banged against the door with all his might and Danny found himself in the same situation as the football field. He was about to lose consciousness, or die, he honestly didn’t know, and Pariah was still there, still just as powerful. In Danny’s peripheral his saw a hand, a gloved hand, it held a key, and Danny watched, as the world spun around him, as the gloved hand locked the door. Danny slacked against the sudden lack of struggle and slipped to the floor. When he turned around, every ghost was there in the castle with him, and none other than Vlad Plasmius hovered at the front. Crown of Fire in one hand and a glowing green key in the other. “I don’t understand.” Danny whispered.

“Maybe the timeline you wished, it could be possible after all.” Vlad smiled. “Rest now, dear boy, you have fought valiantly.”

It all the only confirmation he needed to slip away into darkness.

“Danny?”

“Danny.”

Slowly, Danny opened his eyes. Whatever room he was in felt like it was spinning and he blinked his eyes to try and stop it. When his vision cleared and the spinning slowed, Danny found himself face to face with Sam. She smiled when they made eye contact. Sam leaned back and Danny found himself surrounded by his friends and family, and most surprising of all, Vlad. Danny realized he was in his home, in his human home, laying on his bed.

“You gave us quite a scare there, little badger.” Said Vlad gently.

“Vladdy said he found you just outside the dome after the town flickered back to reality. He saved your life.” Jack said.

“Things might’ve been weird there for a while but if Vlad saved your life then I say bygones!” Maddie declared.

Honestly, even in his haze, Danny was still surprised his parents were there at all. He tried to sit up but Sam gently pushed him back down. “Get some rest.” She said.

Danny closed his eyes and fell blissfully back unconscious.

When Danny awoke again hours later, it was dark, and his room was empty, save for one person. “Vlad…”

“You were right.” Vlad said softly. He was sitting in Danny’s desk chair and had it pulled up next to his bed. There was a book in his lap that he’d probably used to pass the time.

“About what?” Danny rasped.

“Every timeline is possible. I’m just sorry it took me so long to see it.”

Danny’s eyes widened. He couldn’t mean… “You…”

“You’re persistent, I’ll give you that.” Vlad said. “But I think I’d like to hear a little more about this ‘peace’ you were talking about.”

Around them was silence, but as Danny listened he could hear the chirping of a cricket outside his window. Danny thought he must be dreaming, or dead, fully dead. He smiled. “Okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Finally that "Vlad Masters Redemption" tag makes sense! This has been such a long journey with so many ups and downs. But, one more chapter remains.

In case you were wondering, "...and Danny turned his attention away from Vlad." was the moment Vlad slipped the ring in Danny’s pocket.

Thank you so, so very much for your support/continued support and I hope you have a spectacular day/night! <3

12 notes · View notes

spectacled-renegade-writes · 8 months

Text

An Early Start - Chapter 23 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 23:

Yet unbeknownst to Danny, but well known by Clockwork as he watched his dear ward’s life from the screen in his tower, Danny’s reputation echoed loudly across the Ghost Zone. Story after whispered story of his feats, his triumphs, his failures, his kindness. Every and all, and more, passed like a game of telephone from one ghost to another, both from those that loathed him and those that liked him, but also of those that feared him.

Once known as simply a young and weak ghost under the protection of Clockwork, Danny has since proven, more than once and again in the future, his own capabilities and independence. To most, save for a few particularly powerful or arrogant ghosts, they saw him no longer as Clockwork’s ward but instead as Danny Phantom, the strong and capable protector of Amity Park.

But, to an even lesser few, the protector of both humans and ghosts, a tightrope not even the only other halfa in existence could balance. To that even lesser few, they saw a kindhearted child who fought only out of necessity, one who would much prefer to use words and compromise rather than fists and attacks. Ghosts like Ember McLain, Johnny 13, Kitty, Sidney Poindexter and Wulf to name a few. They saw a child, wise beyond his years, striving for peace and balance, trying desperately to do the right thing at every turn, and make the world, both worlds, happy for everyone.

Clockwork knew this of Danny from the very beginning, long before ancestors of ancestors of Danny were conceived. He knew this from the moment time began. There were many, infinite in fact, timelines of things that happened to Danny and the choices he made. But, one thing has always been clear; he’s always been kindhearted from the start. Yes, there are potential timelines, potential even now, of worlds where Danny stops being so kindhearted for one reason or another, but to start? To strive in good intentions at every single potential beginning? There have been and will be very few with such a set in stone, solidified path of good natured will in every conceivable timeline.

Sometimes such whispers of the ghost boy will die down, and ghosts will move on to other topics, other news and gossip to spread from one ear to the next, but then Danny will do something, another spectacular thing, that leaves him the subject of thought amongst the many once more. Like now, as Clockwork watches from his tower, deep in the Ghost Zone, found only by a few, of three ghosts, all of which have been missing from the Infinite Realms for quite some time. They regale their tale and whisper the story of the ghost child, half human if one could believe such a thing, that saved them from years of mind control, and an eternity serving under a corrupt ringmaster. They talked of the human friends he had, how his love for those humans helped him break free of the crystal ball, how he made sure each of the ghosts were okay before they parted ways, and apologized for hurting them while he too was under the ringmaster’s spell.

The whispers of the young phantom started up once again. Two cents and speculations of why he helped the ghosts for a change. Some, the ones that loathed, and some that feared, saw it as no more than self-preservation. Others, the ones that liked, and some that fell in the middle, saw it as perfectly in character. They saw it as a boy who craved peace, striving to do just that, from both sides of the tightrope.

Every whisper, every word, spoken or thought, or even existing only in a parallel timeline, every one of them Clockwork knew.

He smiled and watched his ward with pride.

Danny lay on the roof of the school staring at the clouds during lunchtime. Sam was absent from school today and Tucker was currently making up a test, so Danny had a rare moment alone during such a time during the day. He closed his eyes and inhaled, breathing in the damp air that begged for rain.

The first time Danny experienced rain in the human world, despite it falling from the sky, he did not know it came from the clouds. Instead, he thought that the air was slowly turning into a state of liquid that was starting from above, working its way down. So, Danny wondered why the other humans weren’t panicking. Danny would be okay, he did not need to breathe in his ghost form, but the other humans did not have such a luxury. Instead, they pulled out contraptions that Danny has never seen before, or perhaps did not remember from his life as a child, and watched as they expanded it into a small tent of sorts, to keep the water off of them. Danny would soon learn that these contraptions were called umbrellas, and that the air was not slowly turning into liquid. He did not feel foolish when he learned this truth, but instead felt relief.

The first raindrop of the day splashed onto his forehead and he turned intangible.

The next downpour, after learning the true nature of rain, Danny laid on the roof of his human home, much the same way he is right now, and turned intangible, much the same way he is right now.

Watching the rain fall on and around him was a fascinating thing. It felt like a billion tiny meteors showering from the sky, promising a clear sky afterwards. Danny always liked stargazing after heavy rain, the stars were always brightest then.

Danny’s ghost sense went off and a presence lay beside him. “Hi, Sidney.” Danny said.

“Hi, Danny.” Sidney Poindexter replied.

The two friends lay side by side in silence as they watched the rain. Danny couldn’t help but think that it’s been a long time since just the two of them hung out. It was a nice change of pace.

“Where are your friends?” Sidney asked quietly, so as to not disturb the quiet atmosphere between them.

Danny took a moment to reply. “Sam is at home today and Tucker is making up a test.”

“Is she sick?”

Danny shook his head. “She had an appointment today and her parents let her stay home because it's at an odd time.”

Sidney hummed.

“How is the Ghost Zone?” Danny asked.

Sidney finally turned his head to look at Danny but Danny remained staring at the sky, so Sidney turned back to the sky too. “It doesn’t change much. Physically it’s the same since you left.”

“Physically?”

“There are whispers,” Sidney elaborated. “Of you.” When Danny didn’t react to this Sidney continued. “Everyone’s talking about what you did for those three ghosts from that circus. There’s a lot of debate.”

Danny momentarily pulled his eyes away from the rain to glance at Sidney. “Debate?”

Sidney nodded. “Yeah. Some ghosts are calling you a hero, but others think saving them was just fortunate collateral. Either way, you managed to break free of mind control, no easy feat, and you’ve gained a lot of respect.”

Danny snorted. “Respect?”

But Sidney only nodded. “Yes. Respect. Even from ghosts who don’t particularly like you. Like Skulker.”

“Does that mean he’ll stop hunting me for my pelt?” Danny joked.

Sidney caught on to the joke and smiled. “On the contrary, his newfound respect for you just makes you even more valuable to him. I think he wants your pelt even more.”

The two friends laughed before lapsing back into a stint of silence. It looked like the rain wouldn’t be letting up for the rest of the day. Danny knew Sam would be glad she wouldn’t have to be walking home from school today. She liked the gloomy vibe it gave off but she compared her hate of being out in the rain to that of a cat’s.

But, Danny’s little liminal space couldn’t last forever. It wasn’t much later that the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Danny stood up but Sidney stayed put. “I’ll see you later.” Danny said.

Sidney smiled at him. “See you later, pal.”

Some days Danny was quieter than others. Well, he was always quiet. Rather, some days he was more introspective than others. Today was one of those days.

Danny sat in the Nasty Burger with Tucker, mindlessly sipping on a milkshake while Tucker talked about the cute girl he got paired up with today in science. Tucker often talked about a cute girl from school so Danny didn’t feel too bad about tuning him out. Instead, Danny reflected on his time here in the human world. It’s been a while now and despite being an outcast by societal standards, he thought he’d done a good enough job blending in. He glanced at Tucker. Well… mostly. He’d failed in keeping his secret. At least those who knew were adjusted enough to take it in stride, and remain by his side. For that he’d be forever grateful.

Danny didn’t realize he was smiling until Tucker brought it up. He cut himself off mid-sentence and asked, “Why are you smiling? Is there something on my face?”

Danny blinked a few times, taking in what his friend said, since he hadn’t really been listening. But, he understood, and removed his hands from his cup to reply. “You’re fine. I didn’t realize I was smiling.”

Tucker narrowed his eyes though the upturn of his mouth conveyed amusement. “You weren’t listening to anything I was saying, were you?”

Danny sheepishly shook his head.

But Tucker only grabbed one of Danny’s fries and casually sat back in his seat. “So, what’s going on in the ever racing mind of Danny Fenton today?”

Danny slid the rest of his fries to Tucker and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just grateful you’re my friend.”

Tucker paused, a handful of fries halfway to his mouth. His confusion took form of a lighthearted laugh. “Well of course I’d be your friend, dude. What made you think of that?”

Danny took a slow sip of his milkshake as he contemplated his next words. “I guess… I just didn’t have a lot of friends in the Ghost Zone, and it took a long time to make those friends. I guess I just thought it would be impossible to make friends in this world.”

“Well I guess you didn’t,” Tucker said. “I mean, it was the other way around, wasn’t it? Sam and I made friends with you.”

Danny smiled when he thought about that. “You’re right.”

“I guess humans are just better at the whole making friends thing.” Tucker shrugged, finally stuffing the handful of fries in his mouth.

Yeah, Danny thought, he supposed they were.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Just so y'all know, the next chapter is going to be the finale. The chapter after that, the final chapter, will be the epilogue. I have so much to say but I'll save it all for the notes in the final chapter. :D

Thank you so, so much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day/night! <3

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #clockwork #sidney poindexter #tucker foley #lost time #renegade writes

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An Early Start - Chapter 22 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 22:

In some ways, things got easier. But in others, things remained. The day Danny came back home after his epiphany he told Jazz about it, too. He felt it was the least he could do after ditching school and leaving her in the dark again.

Now that Danny was aware of the things stressing him out, he could better learn how to cope with it, and in the weeks following he seemed all around less tense, according to Sam and Tucker. One fateful morning, Jazz offered Danny a ride to school, something he hasn’t taken her up on in a while, since he liked the solitude of walking (or flying). He thanked her for the ride as they entered the school.

“No problem, Danny.” Jazz smiled. “I’ve missed our morning drives to school together. They feel like the only time we get to hang out anymore.”

Danny smiled sheepishly, and was about to offer to hang out after school when an alarm interrupted his attempt to respond before it even began.

“Ghost alert! Ghost alert!” A mechanical female voice said over the school’s speakers as red lights and alarm bells began to ring.

Danny tensed up at the barrage of noise and lights, and Jazz grabbed his shoulders and yelled, “Danny, hide!”

But Danny wasn’t concerned. Ghost alarms have never gone off while he was in human form before, so it must be a different ghost. However his ghost sense didn’t go off. But just as he thought to be concerned about it, Mr. Lancer walked through the hallway with a cheap monster mask on and pretended to be a ghost. “Booooo,” his voice wavered as he tried to mimic a ghost. “I am a ghosssst!”

Danny deadpanned. Next to him, Sam and Tucker appeared. “Looks like you didn’t get the memo.” Sam said, rolling her eyes as she held up said ridiculous memo. “The school is running ghost drills now.”

Danny rolled his eyes too and shook his head.

“Who’s that supposed to fool?” Jazz asked.

She shouldn’t have asked.

Their father barged in wearing the Fenton Peeler and shouted, like a battle cry, “Ghost!” He skidded to a halt in front of the two siblings. “I got the memo, and I know there are ghosts around here!”

Danny wished he could sink into the floor. A glance at Jazz yielded the same reaction. He actually would do it too if there weren’t so many people around. Instead, Jazz tried to stop their father by shouting, “Dad! No!”

Of course, because why would he ever listen to his kids, Jack ignored what Jazz had to say and yelled, “Eat ghost peeler, spook!” Then proceeded to blast Mr. Lancer with an ecto-charged attack from a weapon of his own design. One by one each of Mr. Lancer’s clothes were disintegrated off his body until only his underwear remained. It was no surprise when the following thing to happen was the entire surrounding student body bursting into laughter.

One student even yelled, “I’ll never respect his authority again!”

Mr. Lancer’s gaze zeroed in on the Fenton family and he stalked over to them, covering himself up with a nearby painting as he did. “I can’t give you detention,” he growled at Jack. “But someone named Fenton is staying after school!”

Danny knew it would be him even before his sister and father left. At least Jazz put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “I’ll make it up to you.” As she passed. Well, so much for hanging out later.

The only silver lining of the day was that Danny managed to avoid Dash at every turn, and he ate lunch on the roof with his friends so he could catch up with Sidney. But, the end of the day had to come eventually, and Danny said goodbye to his friends before he made his way back to Lancer’s classroom.

“Mr. Fenton,” Lancer said when Danny entered the room. “Sit down.”

Danny chose to stand. He never managed to understand why the adults in this school were feared and as such, did not waver under Mr. Lancer’s attempts at intimidation.

“Mr. Fenton.” Mr. Lancer growled.

Danny understood Mr. Lancer was embarrassed, and genuinely felt bad about what happened to him, but for once this was not a situation Danny felt guilt over. This was the fault of his ghost-obsessed father. Danny pulled out his notebook and began to write, and ignored any further attempts of communication from Mr. Lancer until he was finished. When he was done, he tore the note out and passed it to the teacher.

I know you’re mad and embarrassed, but this isn’t my fault and it's unfair to take it out on me. I don’t like my father’s ghost-obsessed behavior either, and my sister and I told him to stay away from the school. If he won’t listen to his kids, nothing in the world will make him listen, not even mom. She’s just as obsessed as he is.

Danny figured the truth was the right way to go. This whole thing with his human parents has grown beyond exhausting and Danny has surpassed annoyed, and relented to exhaustion on the subject. He kept his eyes downcast and prepared to be completely ignored as students often are at this school. What he wasn’t expecting was for the gentle tone in Mr. Lancer’s voice the next time he spoke.

“Danny,” Mr. Lancer said softly. “Please, take the seat across from my desk.”

Danny almost felt whiplash at the sudden change in demeanor so he did the only thing he could, he sat down.

Mr. Lancer leaned forward with his elbows on his desk and his chin resting on the back of his hands. “Danny, you’re often late to my class and sometimes you don’t even bother to show up altogether. If you do manage to show up then there’s still a chance you will randomly leave early. When you’re here, you keep your head down and keep to yourself, and you barely turn in your homework.”

Danny wondered where his teacher was going with this. He knew the things Mr. Lancer were saying was supposed to be important to him, and maybe if he’d grown up as a normal kid they would be, but as it stands Danny did not see even a lick of importance to these things, short of doing them to follow the human rules.

“But,” Mr. Lancer continued. “When you do turn in your homework, you do excellently. When it’s time to take a test, you pass with flying colors. I never see you take a single note during class and yet you retain everything I teach you. You’re a smart kid, Danny, you just don’t apply yourself. So, after showing me this note, and connecting it with everything else, I have to wonder, is everything okay at home?”

The question caught Danny off guard. On one hand, he didn’t have the heart to tell Lancer that he didn’t retain the things Lancer taught, they were simply things Danny already knew from Clockwork’s teachings, on the other… what exactly did he mean by ‘is everything okay at home’?

It seemed Mr. Lancer could tell Danny didn’t understand and he cleared his throat. “You have... been back for a while now and you seem to have adjusted fairly well considering your circumstances, as well as the length of time you were gone. Now, I don’t want to go too in depth because I’m sure this is a sensitive subject, but as your teacher it’s my job to be concerned about my students. So, I have to ask, were your parents responsible in any way to your disappearance ten years ago? And if so, are they repeating similar behaviors now?”

In another life Danny thought perhaps he’d get angry and defensive at this question. But, in this world, he felt no such animosity. Instead, he saw Mr. Lancer in a way he’s only seen him a few times: An exhausted and underappreciated teacher who at his core, simply wants the best for his students. Danny thought his note must have been a moment of clarity for the man.

Danny put pen to paper. He often didn’t see the point in lying, which is why he almost never did it, but he knew there were times when it was important. Right now it was important. Jazz had explained early on what happened to kids who had parents that didn’t take care of them. She’d told him this to ensure he wouldn’t tell anyone else, so he wouldn’t be taken away from her again. Danny scribbled his answer and passed it to his teacher.

Everything is okay at home. I’m sorry for any concerning implications.

Mr. Lancer was silent for a long time after he read this. He stared at the page, a wrinkle in his brow indicating an internal debate. But, his mind seemed to settle it because he sighed. “Okay,” Mr. Lancer said. “You’re excused.”

Danny pocketed his notebook and grabbed his backpack to leave. He was halfway to the door when Mr. Lancer spoke up one last time. “Just one more thing.” Danny turned to face him. “If there is anything going on, and you don’t feel like you have another adult in your life to turn to, you can always come to me. My door is always open.”

Danny became aware of the fact that this teacher may or may not be more intuitive than he let on. Well, one experience didn’t confirm such a hypothesis, but it was a theory. He nodded to his teacher, then turned and left the room.

Danny’s day only got worse when he got home. He’d been having such a pleasant time lately after recovering from his breakdown that he should have predicted it’d come crashing down soon enough. He made his way to the basement where he heard Jazz chewing out their parents on his behalf. Danny smiled as he descended the stairs, one day he would return the favor.

His smiled faded away when he heard his father going on about all the chores he has neglected to do.

Jazz stepped right in. “Why would you even assign Danny chores down here?! Have you ever thought, for one second, that maybe he doesn’t like being down here? Since, you know, this is the place your experiments nearly killed him ten years ago!”

Danny winced. She was right… partially. It was true that this place brought back those bad memories, but mostly it was because Danny didn't like to be down here while his parents were down here too, and they always were, so Danny avoided the basement. But, he did not refute her claim. He remained silent and watched the exchange, waiting for the right moment to step in if Jazz needed him to. Though he didn't need to because the television in the corner lit up with breaking news.

“The hunt is on for the Amity Park Ghost.” The news anchor said. The family of four stopped their squabbling and turned their attention to the voice. “As a result of today’s false ghost alert at Casper High, the need for competent, non-Jack-Fenton, ghost hunters in Amity Park has never been more obvious.”

Jack, oblivious as ever, only retained the part where he was mentioned and exclaimed, “Hey, they said my name! What in the heck does need for competent ghost hunters mean?” He proceeded to press a button on the Fenton Peeler and douse himself in ectoplasm.

The news anchor continued. “Luckily, a mysterious benefactor has offered a million-dollar bounty on the head of Amity Park’s most famous ghost, and hired the world’s best-known ghost hunters to track him down.”

Danny and Jazz glanced at each other.

“Nobody’s catching that ghost kid but me!” Jack shouted, darting out of the room and knocking over a pile of boxes on his way. He stopped long enough to say, “Danny, clean that up.”

Danny spent the rest of the night with Jazz researching the ghost hunters this “mysterious benefactor” hired. His nerves calmed when they learned these guys were just as incompetent as their father, and have precisely zero instances of actually catching any ghosts.

So, as he met his friends at the Nasty Burger after school the next day, to meet these ghost hunters, Danny felt calm and secure in the knowledge that he’d be okay.

It didn’t take long for his father to show up soon after, and even less time to make a fool of himself. Tucker had thought of a side hustle to earn some extra cash by giving tours of haunted locations around Amity Park. The idea amused Danny, but just as he was about to warn Tucker that maybe dressing as a ghost while doing these tours might not be the best idea around a bunch of incompetent, idiotic ghost hunters, Jack proved Danny’s point ahead of time, and the next thing Tucker knew his costume was ruined by a blast of ectoplasm.

As the other ghost hunters laughed at Jack, Danny’s ghost sense went off, and suddenly he realized who this “mysterious benefactor” was. Where those ghost vultures were, Plasmius wasn’t far behind. Danny sighed. He was tired of fighting him. While the other ghost hunters were distracted by Jack making a fool of himself with the vultures, Danny snuck behind the Nasty Burger and transformed, turning invisible as he took to the sky, looking for Vlad. It didn’t take long to find him on a nearby rooftop. Danny landed a few feet away from him.

After a moment of hesitation, the only thing Danny could bring himself to say as he opened his mouth was, “Why?”

Vlad looked completely unperturbed as he casually answered back, “Because I need you out of they way while I destroy your father. Don’t worry, little badger, I know you can handle those idiots, but that doesn’t mean they won’t put up a fight.”

“Please, Vlad,” Danny begged, exhaustion dripping from his voice. The temperature seemed to deplete with each word of Ghost Speak spoken. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Just call off the vultures and the hunters, and we can work this out.” Even as each word left his lips he knew it was futile. At the very least, Danny knew his words got to Vlad for a moment, considering the quick falter in his expression. It was the reason that Danny hasn’t given up on him yet. If he can manage to fully break through Vlad’s resentful resolve, then he knows he can finally get through to him. But today did not seem to be that day.

“Unless ‘work this out’ includes destroying your father, I’m not interested." Vlad cackled as he lifted off the ground and sped forward, grabbing Danny before he had time to react and flying the both of them high into the air. “Tah!” Vlad shouted as he proceeded to throw Danny toward the gathered ghost hunters.

Danny could not fight against the momentum so instead he braced for impact and landed hard on the ground before quickly gathering himself and fazing into the ground. He met Tucker and Sam behind the Nasty Burger and transformed back.

“Danny, are you okay?” Sam asked.

At the same time, Tucker asked, “Dude, was that Vlad Plasmius?”

Danny nodded, then added, “For both questions.”

As they began to walk back to Danny’s house, Sam asked, “What is he here for?”

Honestly, Danny just had this weird feeling, so he stuck his hands in his coat pockets and shrugged. He kept to himself during the rest of the walk home. Something… something just didn’t feel right, didn’t add up. Yes, of course Vlad hated Danny’s human father and desperately wanted to see him perish but, well, the way he’s going about it just seems random and ill planned, which goes against what Danny has learned of Vlad's cunning behavior. There has to be something else going on.

These thoughts plagued Danny as the made it to the steps of his house. “Listen,” he said, pulling his hands out of his pockets. “You guys do your ghost tours. I have a few things I need to figure out.”

“Like what?” Sam asked.

Danny’s hands fumbled over each other as he struggled to think of the right thing to say. But, he steadied them when he settled on the right words, “Vlad told me what he’s planning, but I think he’s lying. I need to figure out what he’s actually planning before something bad happens.”

“And you need us to distract those idiotic ghost hunters for you.” Tucker finished for him.

Danny nodded sheepishly. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“Just pay for my next meal at Nasty Burger and you’ve got yourself a deal!” Tucker held a thumbs up.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “You just focus on Vlad and let us know if you need backup.”

Danny smiled. “Thank you.”

“Not problem, man.” Tucker said. “We’ve got your back.”

So, the three friends parted and Danny went inside and made his way to the basement to do his chores while he thought about it. He knew his parents wouldn’t be down here right now so it was prime time. It was the reason he shirked his chores in the first place, his parents were always down here.

Giving his hands something mindless to do helped Danny think better, too. He really couldn’t understand what it is Vlad could possibly want. At some point he heard his father call out from somewhere in the house, “I’ll be back! I’m going out to search around more for the Amity Park Ghost!”

Danny just finished changing the ecto-filtrator when his ghost sense went off. He spun around to be greeted by both the vultures and Vlad. “Shame.” Vlad hummed, floating to the floor. “I thought you’d still be in pursuit by those other hunters. I guess you’re better than I gave you credit for. No matter." He turned to the vultures. "You three start on the portal.” Then turned back to Danny and cracked his knuckles. “I’ve got this.” Vlad shot an ecto-beam and Danny dodged out of the way just in time, changing into his ghost half as he did.

“The portal?” Danny narrowed his eyes. “I knew you weren’t really here just to kill my father, but the portal? That’s it?”

“My, my!” Vlad clapped his hands sarcastically. “I suppose you are smarter than I gave you credit for. My portal was destroyed so I’m taking Jack’s portal instead! You can try to stop me all you want, Daniel, but I’m still more powerful than you.”

Danny was unimpressed, and just felt so tired of this back and forth. “Please don’t make me do this.” He begged as he charged up an ecto-blast.

“It’s the only way,” Vlad sneered.

The two half-ghosts shot their attacks at the same time, the attacks meeting in the middle and fighting to overpower the other. Instead, they both cancelled out, causing a small explosion that sent both half-ghosts flying into opposite walls. They both quickly got up. Upstairs, Danny could hear Jazz and his mother, and so could Vlad. “Stop them!” Vlad commanded to his vultures as he charged toward Danny.

Danny tried to stop the birds but Vlad crashed into him, elbow first, at the same moment. Danny crashed hard into the floor and his knees nearly buckled underneath him as he struggled to stand up. His ghostly wail has been the only thing to stop Vlad in the past but he couldn’t use it here, not in such a small space, it would send the whole house crashing down. “Why,” Danny coughed. “Do you even need it in the first place? If you had one before it means you built it. Why not just rebuild it instead of going through all this trouble?”

It was such sound logic that Danny was surprised when the expression Vlad made in response gave way to the fact that he simply hadn’t thought of this.

Vlad sneered to cover up his embarrassment. “Because,” he punctuated. “This is much more fun! Besides, I get to humiliate Jack this way. That’s why!”

Then it occurred to Danny why Vlad hadn’t thought of the logical solution: He couldn’t. Every bit of Vlad’s rage stemmed from Jack Fenton so when something else angered Vlad, he automatically associated it with Jack Fenton as well. It was a realization that disappointed Danny. How was he supposed to get through to someone who subconsciously associated all his rage and anger toward one man? Danny turned around to look back at the portal. The vultures seemed to have taken care of his mother and sister because were back trying to dismantle it. Danny hoped they were okay. He barely had time to turn his head back to Vlad when a loud thud echoed through the room.

“Freeze, spooks!” Jack shouted from where he’d jumped off the stairs to the lab, holding the Fenton Fisher. “I got an alert that there was an explosion in the lab!” He cast the Fenton Fisher at Vlad but Vlad only laughed and broke out of it.

Danny used the distraction to faze into the floor. His father could hold Vlad off for now. Right now, he needed to make sure his mother and sister were okay.

As the battle raged on in the basement, Danny turned invisible and intangible, and flew quickly through the entire house, searching for them. His ears picked up on banging and he followed it to the weapons vault. He found his mother and Jazz trapped inside, unable to escape due to a lack of handle. He felt his shoulders sag in relief when he saw they were unharmed. So, he grabbed them by the collar of their shirts and pulled them out to the other side.

“They let us out?” Maddie asked incredulously, looking around for the ghost responsible.

But Jazz just smiled. “Not them.” She said.

Danny smiled back but remained invisible as he dashed back toward the basement... only to see the vultures missing and his father throwing Vlad Plasmius into the Ghost Zone. Well, he thought. That’s surprising. Danny touched the floor and returned back to his human form since his father’s back was turned.

Danny ended up hanging out with Jazz that night after all, after texting his friends what happened. He told his sister what happened too. By the end of the night, as Danny lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, he was left with a weird pit in his stomach. The whole thing just ended so abruptly. Minimal combat, no resolution, and a feeling of want leftover. Danny turned to his side and stared out his window, out into the stars. He had a feeling this was not an isolated incident, but instead a beginning.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes:

We're getting so close to the end! I can't believe it!

Thank you so much for reading and I truly hope you have a lovely day/night! <3

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #jazz fenton #vlad plasmius #vlad masters #jack fenton #mr. lancer #sam manson #tucker foley #maddie fenton #anxiety #lost time #renegade writes

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An Early Start - Chapter 21 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 21:

Danny wakes up covered in a thin layer of ice. It was the next morning after arriving home from Vlad’s and he hadn’t had a chance to tell Jazz or his friends about it yet.

The hollow feeling seemed particularly heavy on his conscience today. Whatever. What was new? So, with a wave of his hand the ice vanished, and he got up to get ready for the day. But as he reached the top of the stairs, he heard his parents having a rare morning in the kitchen. Great. Ice trailed along the railing as he descended down the stairs.

At least his parents didn’t notice him as he entered the kitchen, and Danny should have figured much would be the case. The two of them were having an in-depth conversation and as Danny listened while opening the fridge, he realized what exactly it was about.

“We can’t just destroy the ghost,” Maddie said. “Don’t you want to see what it’s made of? We need to dissect it first.”

“You’re right, Mads,” Jack agreed. “If we tear it open then we can get a better understanding on how to tear it apart!”

Danny shuddered, and the orange juice carton he’d grabbed completely froze over. He put it back and shut the fridge. He didn’t have an apatite anyway…

“I say we start with the eyes,” Maddie continued. “You know, to see if the eyes really are the windows to the soul.”

The mug Danny tried to put back in the cupboard went crashing to the floor. His parents' gazes shot up as it shattered and finally noticed Danny. “Hi, sweetie!” His mother said. “Good morning!”

Danny gulped and pressed his back against the counter.

“Butter fingers there, Dan-o?” His father asked. “No worries! I never liked that mug anyway.”

Under his palms the edge of the counter began to freeze, which only made Danny’s panic rise, which made it worse… and so on. Though he was immune to cold, he was still aware of the fact that the temperature in the kitchen plummeted. He took a breath. He needed to calm down.

Maddie rubbed her arms. “Is it just me or is it suddenly really cold in here?”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Jack agreed. “It’s probably a ghost!”

Danny had stopped listening though. He closed his eyes and tried to recenter his breathing. It was a difficult task however because the feeling of his fluttering heart and constricting lungs only added to his stress. He ended up just leaving the kitchen altogether to get away from the situation, and his parents didn’t notice because they were back in depth into their conversation about how they’d tear a ghost apart. He went back upstairs and ended up bumping into Jazz as she exited the bathroom.

“Woah.” She said, grabbing his shoulders and playfully asking, “You in some kind of rush?” But when she saw the fear in his eyes, she relaxed and spoke gently. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Danny shook his head, trying to back away from her. Ice blossomed under his feet. Jazz noticed.

“Danny, breathe. You need to calm down before mom or dad sees that.” But that was the wrong thing to say because it only made him panic more. “Okay, okay.” Jazz placated. “How about we go to your room. Okay?”

Shakily, Danny nodded. So, Jazz kept her hands on his shoulders as she steered him to his room, a thin sheet of frost trailing behind them. Once they were safely behind closed doors, Danny let go of the last of his resolve he was using to hold the ice back and it sprouted across his room. Jazz not so subtly wrapped the blanket from his bed around herself as she took a seat, and gestured for Danny to do the same.

“Okay,” Jazz said gently. “Just breathe, Danny. Whatever’s going on we’ll get through it together. Just breathe.”

The problem for Danny however is that breathing was the whole problem. His lungs and his heartbeat felt too constricting, too claustrophobic. He eyed the door. Jazz had locked it. Good. With a flash of light he turned into his ghost half, and was better able to get ahold of himself. Next to him, blessedly, Jazz took it in stride.

Slowly, the ice began to dissipate and Danny was able to calm his racing mind. When his hands stopped shaking, he raised them to speak, but kept his gaze locked on the wall ahead of him. “I don’t know what’s wrong today.” He admitted. Well, he did know, and he wanted to tell her. But just not right now, not while everything felt messed up. “I woke up in ice too.”

“Do your ice powers act up like this often?” Jazz asked.

Danny shook his head. His expression pinched and his signs grew smaller, closer to his chest. “Only when I feel bad. Like when I'm anxious, scared or sad…”

“I’m guessing right now you’re feeling anxious and scared?” Jazz’s question received a nod. “Are you ready to talk about why?”

Danny shook his head.

“That’s okay,” Jazz said. “You don’t have to talk about it right now. How about we finish getting ready for school.”

So, they did just that. But before they left, Danny had to make sure of one last thing, and he conveyed his message to Jazz so she could ask it for him.

Jazz too tuned in to their parents' conversation as she made lunch for herself and Danny. After she finished packing both bags, she spoke up. “So, mom, dad. That ghost you’re talking about dissecting...”

“Yeah?” Maddie narrowed her eyes, a hint of a challenge in her voice. It was no surprise. She always expected an argument whenever Jazz spoke to her.

Jazz held up her hands placatingly. “I was just wondering if you captured it already?”

As Danny watched the interaction from the edge of the kitchen, he saw his mother grow defensive. “And if we have?”

Jazz scowled. “Jeez! I’m just trying to make conversation with my parents! Is that a crime?” She played it off well.

Danny watched a hint of remorse cross his mother’s face.

“Well, we haven’t. We’re talking strictly theoretics currently.”

Jazz rolled her eyes. Now that she knew no ghost was in danger she lost interest. She grabbed the lunch bags she made and stalked out of the kitchen, grabbing Danny’s hand on the way to pull him out the front door with her.

Danny felt terrible for putting his sister in that situation. “Sorry,” he said once they were in Jazz’s car.

Jazz's face softened. “Don’t worry about it, little brother. It was important.” She smiled. “I’m okay.”

Danny forced a quick smile back but quickly turned away to look out the window. Just another thing to add to the growing list of reasons to feel awful. He became aware of the ice that began to snake its way up his neck, and put his hood up.

They were late to school when they arrived. Jazz brought them both to the front office to get them a hall pass and give a well worded excuse. Since she was quite the teacher’s pet she used that in her favor, and when they exited the office, she elected to walk him to class.

Danny felt trapped. The narrow halls of the school only felt narrower and he pictured the halls simply swallowing him whole. He wished he was in his ghost form right now, with no heartbeat and no lungs. But he wasn’t, and both were there, and they mixed with his confined feelings. He tried to maintain temperature control in the building but he was acutely aware of the fact that he was failing miserably. They arrived outside his classroom and Jazz turned to him, and reached forward to pull down his hood. “Mr. Lancer won’t let you keep that on.” She said.

Danny knew this. He felt his neck for the ice that had crept up and felt it still there, and Jazz noticed this time.

“What’s that?” She asked, pulling his hand away to look.

Danny took a step back. He knew she cared but she was too close for him right now. “Ice.” He answered, looking away.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Danny shook his head. He backed away another step and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to concentrate on his frozen core, trying to regain control. Slowly, he felt the ice begin to creep away. When he opened his eyes, Jazz was smiling. “Have I ever told you that you’re great?” She asked.

That garnered a shy smile from Danny.

“Well,” Jazz continued. “We better get to class. I’ll see you later.” She made to leave but paused after a step and said, “Oh, and text me if you need anything.” Then she finally turned around and walked away, leaving Danny alone.

Without his sister’s presence the halls seemed even more constricting, so he turned too and entered his class.

Mr. Lancer didn’t stop his lecture as he accepted the hall pass from Danny, and Danny kept his head down, ignoring the eyes of the other students as he made his way to his seat.

Danny heard a soft “psst” as he took his seat. He looked over and saw his friends looking back at him. “You O-K?” Sam signed discreetly under her desk.

Danny nodded and replied back in the same way. “Later.”

Sam nodded and turned back to face their teacher.

Now that Danny was looking up, he noticed how much smaller the classroom was compared to the hallway he was just in, especially with all the people in here. He shut his eyes and lay his head on his desk, burying himself in his arms. The school always felt claustrophobic but it’s actually been a while since it’s been this bad. Between what happened last weekend, waking up in ice today, the things his parents said this morning, and now this, Danny realized he was exerting all of his energy trying to keep his core in check. He felt exhausted.

The ticking of the clock in the corner rang loud in his ears but surprisingly it was a reprieve; it reminded him all too well of his home back in the Ghost Zone, in the clock tower with Clockwork. He missed his home the most during bad days like this, and let himself be consumed by the sound, keeping him grounded to the moment. Blissfully, the bell rang all too soon and Danny could leave the awful classroom.

However, when he lifted his head he was bombarded again by the suffocating aura of such a small space, now made worse by the fact that students crowded around him as they waited to exit the classroom.

It was his breaking point. Danny couldn’t get out of the classroom fast enough and ended up pushing people out of his way in his haste, ignoring every “Hey!” and “Watch it!” as he passed. He stumbled through the hall and found his way to the janitor’s closet and the moment the door shut behind him, he transformed and flew straight out of the school.

Danny did not think about where he was going. All he thought was go. But his thoughts suffocated him the same way the school had so he still felt trapped.

Somehow, go took him to the abandoned house he spent so much time at with his friends. He stumbled his way inside and landed on the floor of the upstairs nursery with an undignified crash. Once he righted himself he pulled his knees up, sitting on the floor, and leaned against the wall under his painting of his tower. Danny shut his eyes and buried himself into the hood of his ghostly attire, letting go of his core and allowing ice to creep up the room around him.

Woah, what happened here?

It’s like a winter wonderland.

Danny?

“Danny?”

Danny’s eyes snapped open as he returned to himself. He was hit with sunlight streaming through the window, much lower than he remembered, and sat up and looked around. The entire room was frosted over, and if what he could see out the window was any indication, the entire property was covered in a layer of frost. To his left, in the doorway, stood Sam and Tucker. They looked worried.

“Danny?” Sam walked over to him, carefully avoiding slipping on the ice underneath her heavy combat boots. She kneeled in front of him and Tucker soon joined. “Are you okay? The entire house is covered in ice.”

Danny quietly took in their appearances. They looked cold, and he could see each breath they took. Danny honestly couldn’t remember how bad cold felt but considering they were shivering, it must not feel very nice. He was sure he looked stressed as he unwrapped his hands from around his legs to speak. “There’s blankets downstairs.”

“We’re fine, D-Danny.” Tucker tried to assure but the chattering of his teeth betrayed him. So, Danny took their hands and gently glided above the floor, his friends in tow, so they could quickly get downstairs without a risk of slipping.

Danny didn’t feel very in control of his power at the moment but he was still able to rid the couch of the layer of frost on it, and sat his friends down, before proceeding to move to their supply pantry to grab a couple of blankets for them. They seemed much more comfortable after they were wrapped up. Danny floated down and sat crisscross on the coffee table in front of them.

“Okay,” Sam said. “You took care of us, now let us take care of you. You were pretty chilly at school earlier, too. Did something happen over the weekend?”

Did something happen. Sam had no idea how much of a loaded question that was. But he still didn’t want to talk about it; It felt like more of the same thing. Besides, at this point, he was sure it was only part of why he felt so bad. However, he didn’t want to lie to them so he replied, “Something did. But I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Danny…” Tucker tried.

Danny shook his head to interrupt him. Suddenly even the kind support of his beloved friends began to feel suffocating too and he couldn’t help but snap, “I’m just stressed.” His hand movements were quick and jerky, and matched the scowl which appeared on his face. Around him, the temperature plummeted even further and he idly wondered if this old house could even withstand it.

But as quickly as his aggression appeared, it vanished, leaving him feeling ever more guilty. “Sorry,” Danny said. “I know you’re trying to help, but everything just feels constricting right now, and I can’t get ahold of my powers. It hasn’t been this bad since I first developed these ice powers.”

His friends exchanged concerned glances and Danny once again found himself wondering how he managed to find such wonderful, loyal friends. He didn’t feel like he deserved them.

“You’ve been kind of running on fumes lately.” Tucker said. “Honestly, I’m not surprised this happened.”

Really? Danny didn’t feel like he’s been running on fumes.

“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “I know it seems things have been better but Tucker and I have noticed how tired you always seem lately. Like, you’re trying to put up a front or something.”

Has he been putting up a front? Danny contemplated this. He thought about how good things have been going lately. Between helping Cujo, befriending Ember, and leaving on friendly terms with Johnny and Kitty, he thought things have been going quite well. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized how desperate he’s felt. How hard he’s been trying to make peace with the other ghosts instead of fighting. It was rewarding but… it was also exhausting, he realized.

Suddenly everything made sense. This last weekend with Vlad, when Danny thought he’d been so close to changing Vlad’s mind, only for it to be all for naught. It wasn’t the whole reason he felt bad today. Instead, it had been a breaking point. His final straw.

Danny looked around the room, the frozen wasteland it had become. Somehow, realizing the core of the issue felt like it helped his core itself. He raised a hand into the air and balled it into a fist, and the moment he did, every bit of frost and ice in the vicinity vanished. In front of him Tucker and Sam let out a sigh of relief. Danny felt a weight lift off his shoulders and wondered how he could’ve been so stressed this whole time without even realizing it.

Tucker and Sam removed the blankets they were in and Danny smiled when he saw that they looked comfortable again.

He ended up telling them what happened last weekend after all, and the epiphany he came to just now, while sharing the lunch Jazz packed him earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Poor Danny is having a hard time :(

Despite how hard I tried I'm really not happy with how this chapter came out. Sorry for sub-par writing and I hope next chapter will be better!

Thank you so much for your support and I hope you have a lovely day/night!

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spectacled-renegade-writes · 8 months

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An Early Start - Chapter 20 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 20:

One day Danny came home a bit later than normal after school, opting to hang out with Sam and Tucker for a few hours before the three of them had to split for the day. But the moment he stepped through the front door, his mother bombarded him. “Danny!” She exclaimed. “I have great news!” Danny stumbled as he took a step back, nearly falling down but being caught by the wall. He glanced over to his sister who was glowering next to their smiling father. “I got an invitation to a mother-son science symposium in Florida! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Danny looked back to his sister. Even after all this time their parents still didn’t know sign language, and settled on relying on Jazz to translate. Jazz, on her part, has finally grown quite proficient at it. “Do I have to?” He asked, even though they both knew the answer.

“This will suck for both of us,” Jazz signed back. “I’m doomed to special family alone time with dad.”

“Now don’t just leave us in the dark,” Maddie said excitedly. “How excited is Danny?”

The siblings exchanged glances. “Sooo, excited.” Jazz spoke dryly.

“Well,” Maddie said. “Packs your bags. They’re sending a private jet, just for us!”

When Danny went up to his room, Jazz followed.

“What’s gotten into her?” Danny asked before turning to pull his suitcase out of his closet.

“From what I overheard she found an old picture of you and her, and randomly decided she missed the old times.” Jazz scoffed. “She wants to play mom again or something, I don’t know. That letter just happened to come at the right time.”

“Or wrong the wrong time.” Danny said, turning back around.

“Yeah,” Jazz agreed, huffing out a bitter laugh. “Good luck, little brother.”

"You too," Danny replied. "With dad I mean."

Before they left, Jack gave Maddie a belt he called the “Fenton Spector Deflector”. He guaranteed it would repel and weaken any ghost.

“Make sure to stay away from that thing.” Jazz whispered to Danny.

Danny snorted and nodded. Obviously.

Danny listened to his portable CD player and stared out the window of the taxi on the way to the airport. He’s never been on a plane, at least that he could remember, but he knew what they were and he wasn’t looking forward to being trapped in one for the next few hours. He flinched when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Danny pulled down his headphones.

“What are you listening to?” His mother asked.

Now, Danny was aware that his parents loved him and his sister. This, he didn’t doubt. But they loved their work more, and even after they thought they killed him, even after all these years, they never let up. They were his parents but they never took part in raising him... and they didn’t realize that. Danny popped open his CD player to show her the album.

“Ember McLain?” She said. “That’s that new alternative popstar I’ve heard on the radio recently, isn’t it?” Danny closed the CD player and nodded. He was about to put his headphones back on when she spoke again. “How’s school? Have you adjusted well?” Danny refrained from heaving out a heavy sigh and gave her a thumbs up, but it seemed she didn’t take the hint. “How about your friends? What were their names again?”

Danny reached into his pocket and pulled out his notebook. It was almost filled, he’d need to get a new one soon. Sam and Tucker. He wrote.

“Sam and Tucker, right!” His mother said. “How are they doing? Are they treating you well?” Danny nodded. Then his mother leaned in conspiratorially, and Danny leaned back. “What about any crushes?”

Crushes? Danny has never heard this term before. He asked, What is crushes?

His mother laughed and sat back. “If you don’t want to talk about your crushes then just say so. No need to pretend you don’t know what they are, silly!”

It was the very first time someone has laughed at Danny for asking what something is. It made him feel worse about himself. He pulled his headphones back on, lifted up his hood, and looked back out the window. They didn’t talk again until they were on the plane.

“Come on, Mr. Pouty Pants,” his mother said lightly. “This weekend is supposed to be about us. Those ‘Dalv’ people sent this private jet just for us! How perfect is that?”

Danny gripped harder onto his portable CD player. Right now, it was the only thing grounding him. He was with his mother, in an airplane which was way more enclosed than he imagined, on his way away from Amity Park. It was all he could do to not completely fall apart. Still, he kept his expression carefully neutral and swallowed his feelings. He didn’t make eye contact with her as he provided another thumbs up.

This time, his mother could sense his hostility and she sighed. “Forget it, Danny. Just look out the window at that warm, sunny Florida coastline.”

Above them, the intercom came on. “Folks, this is your captain speaking. If you look out the window to your left, you’ll see the cold, bleak Colorado Rockies.” Danny didn’t know much about the layout of the human world but he was pretty sure Florida and Colorado had two different names for a reason. The captain continued to speak. “And if you look out the window to your right side, you’ll see me! Bailing out of the plane before it careens out of control and crashes.”

Danny and his mother jumped to their feet and ran to the window just in time to see the pilot parachuting into the sky. They immediately ran to the cockpit. The plane began to spiral into a nosedive and his mother tried to take over the controls, but they would not budge. “How do we get out of this?” His mother pleaded under her breath.

This is not how Danny wanted his mother to find out he was half-ghost. In fact, never finding out at all would be preferable. But, if he didn’t do anything they would crash, so he had to risk it. Danny transformed and placed his hands on his mother’s shoulders, attempting to overshadow her to take control of the plane. But the moment he touched her a surge of pain, unlike anything he’s felt in many years, went and surged through his body. Danny stumbled back and fell to the floor with a forced transformation back to his human half. His mother heard him stumble and ran to his aid, placing a hand on his head. “Danny, you okay?” She asked. Reflexively Danny slapped her hand away, but she didn’t notice because her eyes were on something else. “Danny, parachutes. Let’s go!”

As they jumped out of the plane, Danny found the briefest amusement at the fact that he knew what a parachute was but hadn’t known what a dressing room was. But his discontent returned when they caught up with their pilot who revealed himself as a ghost. “Folks, at this time I’d like to inform you that you’ve been the victims of a cruel hoax.” Their pilot said. “Thank you for flying air evil plot!” With that, he cackled and flew back to the plane. Danny crossed his arms.

“Oh, come on, Danny. Don’t be so glum. Look at the view!” His mother chirped. For once, Danny did not enjoy being in the sky. Not like this. They landed in a dense forest and his mother pulled out a machete from her boot. Danny put his headphones back on, it was the one item not lost to the plane, and ignored whatever his mother had to say. At the moment he was done trying to be polite.

Danny silently followed behind his mother as she cleared away shrubbery. Part of him wanted to just fly home. The problem with that, besides the obvious, which was that he couldn’t leave his mother behind, despite his feelings about her he still needed to protect her, is that he had no idea how to get home. Danny didn’t know how long they walked before they broke free of the forest and found themselves in front of a large mountain chalet. He pulled down his headphones. Moments later, a horn honked.

Then, all at once, this entire ordeal suddenly made sense. Did Vlad really need to concoct such a convoluted plan? Danny pointedly did not make eye contact with him as he pulled up in a golf cart. “Why Maddie and Danny Fenton.” Vlad said.

“Vlad Masters?” Maddie gasped.

Vlad smiled. Way too big in Danny’s opinion. “Oh, what an amazing, unexpected, and totally unplanned surprise.” Then, to his mother’s obliviousness which could rival his father’s at the moment, Danny watched Vlad hold up two baskets with their names on it. “Personalized gift baskets?” His mother merely joyously laughed and took her basket, taking a seat next to Vlad on the golf cart. Danny scowled and silently took the last remaining seat, pulling his headphones back on.

For Danny, he really didn’t want to resent Vlad, but the man was making it really difficult, so Danny kept to himself as they made their way to the house. They entered the building and Danny stuffed his hands in his pockets as he took a seat, looking around at the taxidermy he promised himself he’d never tell Sam about. His eyes happened to glance over to a mirror just as Vlad was looking into it. ‘dalV’, the embroidery on the robe Vlad was wearing read. Danny felt like an idiot.

“So,” Vlad said, turning away from the mirror. “What brings you two to these parts?”

“You’ll never believe it,” Maddie said. “We were on our way to this symposium…” Danny stopped listening just then because seriously? She still thought that was real? He always knew she was the much more capable and intelligent of his two parents but now he was starting to have his doubts.

Danny tuned back in as Vlad said, “Maddie, I’m so glad you’re here. It gives me the chance to apologize for Jack’s behavior at our college reunion.” He put a hand on Maddie’s shoulder to pull her away from a book she'd picked up. “And,” Vlad continued. “To show you how sympathetic I am towards your son’s predicament.” Danny watched as Vlad turned to face him, like they weren’t already very well acquainted, and lifted his hands to sign, “I learned sign language, just for you.”

Danny could only deadpan at that sickly sweet smile on Vlad’s face. He was very aware of the fact that Vlad learned this not out of sympathy for him, but to gain brownie points with his mother. It only reiterated what Danny realized during their initial encounter. Vlad just wanted a family. However, the way he’s decided to go about it is completely backwards, and he won’t let go of his lifelong grudge against Jack Fenton. Danny raised his hands to sign back a very hard truth he knew Vlad would never suspect. “She doesn’t know sign,” he replied. “She never bothered to learn. She has Jazz translate everything for me.”

Vlad faltered. For the first time since they arrived, Vlad’s carefully constructed persona slipped momentarily from surprise. But, if he was one thing, it was graceful, and his carefully constructed persona slipped right back into place. “Well, nevertheless,” he spoke, turning back to Maddie. “If Jack hadn’t been so weak, perhaps that possession never would’ve happened.”

Maddie took it in stride as she walked over to a bookshelf. “Now, Vlad, Jack may be a bumbler but he means well.”

“I know, Maddie,” Vlad sighed wistfully. “And I’ve forgiven him for many things. Causing the accident that ruined my life, stealing you, the backwash incident…”

Danny watched this whole interaction from the chair he sat in, carefully analyzing Vlad’s behavior. He wondered if the sympathetic way in which Vlad spoke came naturally, or if he had to practice it.

Maddie paused and spun around. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up.” Her voice faltered. “What was that?”

Vlad played perfectly oblivious. “Causing the accident that ruined my life?”

“N-no after that.” Maddie fumbled.

“The… backwash incident?”

Danny could tell that even his mother was finally taking notice of Vlad’s faux behavior.

“No!” She snapped. “In. The. Middle!”

Then Danny watched as even Vlad realized she was beginning to catch on. His decision with this knowledge was to just go all in. “Oh, the stealing you part? Ah, you always could see right through me.” He dropped to one knee and clasped his hands together. “Oh, Maddie, I’m just going to come right out with it.” He placed a longing hand on his chest. “Please, dump Jack and stay here. You and Danny both can. What do you say?”

Really, truly, Danny wondered if Vlad actually thought that was going to work, or if he was just desperate. The answer was probably both.

Maddie scowled and in an instant, she turned on her heel and stomped out of the room, throwing back a, “Come on, Danny. We’re leaving.”

As they made their way outside, Vlad called out, “Mark my words, Maddie. Nobody says no to Vlad Masters. You will rue the day that you spurned my affection!”

Danny turned to get one last glance at him. For a moment, they made eye contact, and Danny quickly looked away. If he could just talk to him. If he could just make Vlad see reason, like Ember or Johnny. But, Danny knew this one would be much more difficult. Like Danny, Vlad wasn’t just a ghost, he was alive, too. With that came much more complex emotions and drive, especially someone who’s held a grudge for twenty years. But, in a way, Danny could still see himself in Vlad; that crushing loneliness. The want to simply fit in, find a place where you belong. If he could just find a way to convey that without being met with hostility…

Danny sat at a campfire his mother built while she set up camp. In a way, he knew his mother wanted something similar. She wanted to be a mom. She just… also didn’t want to be a mom; she didn’t want the responsibilities that came with it, just the relationship. Danny couldn’t help but feel his own form of resentfulness too at this, though he did not wish her any harm like Vlad did his father. Danny simply was not interested in a relationship with her. She finished setting up her makeshift tent and brought out two sleeping bags, which were previously dehydrated into pill capsules, and sat down next to him.

“Fenton jerky?” She offered, pulling a strip out of her pocket. Danny shook his head. She sighed. “Danny, this weekend certainly isn’t turning out like I planned, but we’re spending it together, and that just means the world to me.” She reached down and touched his hand. Danny had forgotten about the Spector Deflector until the next moment when another indescribable shock of pain flared through his entire body. Danny quickly pulled his hand away and stood up. He was not in the mood to deal with this right now. So, he grabbed his sleeping bag and pulled it to the other side of the campsite. His mother took the hint and pulled her own sleeping bag into her makeshift tent. “Goodnight, Danny. I love you.” She tried. Danny ignored her.

Danny’s plan was to wait until she fell asleep before returning to Vlad’s to talk. It didn’t take long for his plan to come to him.

A large ghost bear with four arms appeared right before Danny and he knew this was the ghost of the bear that Vlad turned into a rug. Well, this works too. Danny let the bear take him.

As he lay slung over the bear's shoulder on the way back to the chalet, Danny thought about what he was going to say. He thought back to the way Vlad faltered when he told him Maddie never bothered to learn sign language. Well, if that truth made Vlad falter, then maybe it was in both of their best interests for Danny to tell the rest of the truth. The bear arrived back to the house and it brought Danny back to the room they were in before, throwing him back into the chair he occupied previously, but this time surrounded by the growling ghosts of the rest of the taxidermy animals.

“Does this mean we can finally talk?” Danny asked, slipping easily back into ghost speak now that his mother wasn’t around.

“Talk?” Vlad inquired from where he stood a few feet away. He was in his ghost form.

“Yeah,” Danny replied. “Talk. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“And what way would that be, dear boy?” Vlad asked, holding his arms behind his back and tilting his head. He was trying to feign curiosity but Danny could tell he was genuinely curious despite himself. He knew Vlad had a different perception of how this night was supposed to go.

“We can still be friends.” Danny tried, standing up and turning into Phantom, to match Vlad’s own ghostly form. “This… resentment that you feel. It doesn’t have to rule your life.”

“This resentment,” Vlad snapped. “Is completely founded! Your father ruined my life, and yours too! The real question is, why don’t you feel it too?!”

“I do.” Danny answered evenly. “I don’t know exactly what happened to you twenty years ago but for me, it wasn’t just my dad.”

“What?”

“For me, my mom is just as much to blame. I was four years old but I remember that day like it was yesterday. I think… even though it was the day I died, it was also the day I began to live.”

Vlad’s scowl slipped off his face and Danny wondered if he was aware of it. Cautiously, Vlad asked, “What are you saying, Daniel?”

Danny glided across the room, past the ghost animals, past Vlad, and sat on the couch near the fireplace. “I’m saying,” Danny said. “Let’s talk.”

Vlad tensed up. For a moment Danny thought that he’d lost him again, but then Vlad glided over to the couch too, and sat on the opposite end. “Fine.” He said. “Let us talk.”

So, Danny pulled his knees up, glared into the fire and said, “Tell me what happened, what really happened, twenty years ago.”

“What do I get in return?” Vlad asked skeptically.

“I’ll tell you exactly what happened to me.” Danny replied.

Danny didn’t look at Vlad as the man contemplated this, but he eventually sighed and gave in. “Very well. It happened in college. The three of us were friends…” Danny listened to Vlad’s story, at some point pulling his gaze away from the fireplace to look at the man. Vlad told him how the accident happened, how Jack, both too overzealous and also not paying attention, caused his accident, and the subsequent years in the hospital. Danny learned that Vlad’s transformation wasn’t instantaneous like his was, how it came to him little by little as he slowly died. He told Danny about when he finally left the hospital, how he went to search for Maddie, only for salt to be poured in the wound when he learned that Jack had taken her too. Danny was silent when Vlad finished his tale, taking it in and mulling it over in his mind. When he did speak up, he spoke slowly, carefully.

“Do you really love her?” Danny asked. “Or do you love the idea of her?... Or do you just hate that my father took that from you too?”

Vlad didn’t reply. Instead, he looked like he tried to be angry with that accusation but couldn’t quite muster it up. “It’s your turn.” He said instead. “The deal was I told you my tale, exactly how it happened, and you do the same.”

Danny stared at the man, studied him. Vlad’s eyes were hard to read as Plasmius but his expression wasn’t, and he looked vulnerable. “I’ll tell you, if you want. But… well, you won’t like it. It’ll shatter the perception you’ve had for twenty years.”

“Try me.” Vlad said. Danny knew he was only pretending to be ready.

But, he kept his word and regaled his own tale. “I was four, and I was hungry…” Danny did not leave out a single detail. He talked about his sister’s late morning, how she hadn’t had time to make him lunch, and how she always made him lunch because his parents, both of them, always forgot about him. He spoke of his trip to the lab, how his parents did not notice him even as he spoke up. Then he talked about his final mistake of climbing onto that stool, and the button being pressed.

“But Jack was the one who pressed the button, right?” Vlad asked.

Danny shook his head. “They both did, at the same time.” Danny explained. “They both held it and counted down.” Danny could still remember the feeling of his veins on fire. “It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt,” he whispered, and looked up at Vlad. “A pain I’m sure you remember, too.” Vlad didn’t say anything so Danny continued. “The portal didn’t work for long, but I was sent to the Ghost Zone, where I was trapped for ten years.”

“And that’s how you became Clockwork’s Ward.” Vlad finished for him.

Danny nodded. “He found me shortly after I arrived and took me in. He raised me. I came back ten years later because he asked me to, when my parents completed their portal.”

Vlad was silent for a long time. Danny did not interrupt his thoughts, he knew it was a lot to take in. It felt like hours passed before Vlad spoke again, or rather whispered, “But Maddie would never…” He spoke up. “Surely after such a devastating incident she has changed after all these years. This must be some kind of trick.” He was getting defensive again. Danny expected this, and remained calm.

“No,” Danny said. “She hasn’t. At first it seemed like it. My parents took me to all my appointments, protected me from reporters, and made sure I was okay. I really thought things would be different this time. But, when everything died down, and I settled in, they went right back to their lab. I can go days without seeing either of them. They promised they would learn sign language for me but they haven’t.”

“But that’s preposterous!” Vlad exclaimed. “Maddie has always been such a kindhearted soul!”

“I don’t doubt my parents love me, and my sister, but they just love their work more, and nothing will change that.”

That statement seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. Danny watched the devastation grow on Vlad’s face as his entire worldview shattered. Danny felt guilt gnaw in his own chest but he pushed it down because right now wasn’t the time. “I just can’t believe…” Then abruptly he turned to Danny. “I cannot let you leave.” Vlad said quickly.

Taken aback, Danny replied. “I have to.”

“But why?!” Vlad exclaimed. “It is too dangerous for you in that house! We are two of a kind. We must stick together!”

Danny's shoulders relaxed in understanding and he replied gently, “I’m sorry, but I have to make sure no one in Amity Park gets hurt, both humans and ghosts alike. I can’t do that if I’m not there.”

“Daniel,” Vlad said. “I still cannot bring myself to find harm for your mother. So, even when I kill your father, you will still be in danger.”

Danny stilled, and gaped. Even… wait... even after all of that? Killing Jack Fenton was still his motivation? Overwhelming loneliness like Danny hasn’t felt in a long time welled up inside of him, spilling over with the added addition of despair. “Vlad…”

“Stay here with me, my boy. We will show everyone who has ever crossed us!”

Danny wiped away a tear before it fell as devastation settled in his chest. “I won’t join you.” He whispered.

Vlad froze. “What?”

Danny wrapped his arms around himself and looked down. “Even… after all this. Revenge and power is still your motivation? I’m… sorry Vlad. I wish we could be friends but… I don’t want to hurt anybody. I don’t want to rule.”

“You can’t possibly-“

A resounding knock cut him off. Moments later they heard the front door open and Maddie call out, “Vlad? I need your help! I can’t find Danny!”

The two halfas made eye contact. Then, just as Danny transformed back into his human half, Vlad turned intangible. “Take the copter home. Until next time, little badger.” With that, Vlad disappeared. The last thing Danny saw before he did was the devastation on the man's face, the same kind Danny felt in his chest.

Nothing felt resolved, and nothing felt okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Chapter 20?!?! 5 more chapters left y'all!

Thank you so, so much for reading and have a wonderful day/night! <3

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #maddie fenton #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #jazz fenton #claustrophobia #anxiety #depression #depressed danny fenton #angst #loneliness #lost time #renegade writes

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spectacled-renegade-writes · 8 months

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An Early Start - Chapter 19 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Linking it one last time in case anyone missed it. Drawing of Danny's ghost half as done by @lilianade-comics here ! Thank you so much!

Chapter 19:

When Danny went back to school he walked, instead of accepting a ride from Jazz or flying, so he could enjoy the outside breeze and solitude for a while. He kept his hood up and his hands stuck in his hoodie pockets as he listened to Dumpty Humpty with headphones on from the portable CD player Sam had given him a while back. It was another odd item that had to be explained to him but Sam showed him how to use it, and gave him her own Dumpty Humpty CD, as well as a few others, to “experience real music”. Danny didn’t understand the difference between “real music” as opposed to “that other garbage” but he liked both well enough, and he liked the music Sam gave him to listen to, so he didn’t see the need to complain.

It was a nice day, he noted idly, a cool breeze to balance out the mostly cloudless sky. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, enjoying the pressure of his lungs in his chest when he was in control of it. Danny was so lost in his head that he almost tripped over a small dog that appeared in his path. Danny stumbled and regained his footing before looking down at his feet. Okay, not a normal dog. A ghost dog. Danny reached under his hood to pull his headphones around his neck, then kneeled down. “Hello.” He said, smiling.

The little dog yipped and spun around before proceeding to stride right past Danny. “Wait!” Danny called, standing up. He reached for the dog but in one fell swoop it turned around and grew ten times its size, leaning down and baring its teeth at him. Danny knew he should probably be afraid right now, but this wasn’t nearly the weirdest thing he’s seen a ghost do. Still, he put his hands up placatingly. “Don’t worry, boy.” He spoke softly. “I just want to help. Are you looking for something?” If the way it had earlier moved right passed him didn’t make it obvious enough, one thing Danny learned after ten years in the Ghost Zone is that ghosts of animals, especially pets, had unfinished business most often.

Maybe it was Danny's ghost speak, or maybe the dog was just very well trained, but it seemed to know exactly what Danny was trying to say because it sat back and began to wag its tail. Danny reached out and pet it. “Good boy.” Vaguely, he was aware of the fact that this must be a bewildering sight to any potential passersby. However, no one screamed in terror yet so the two of them must be alone. Danny looked around to make sure the coast was clear before transforming into his ghost half. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll help you find what you’re looking for, as long as you turn small again. I don’t want any of the humans to get hurt. Deal?”

The giant dog turned back into a little pup and yipped. Danny reached down, picked it up, and tucked it underneath his arm. He noticed it had a collar and upon further investigation, found a tag which read “Cujo”.

“Cujo, huh?” Danny said. “Well, Cujo, tell me where to go.”

After a long man-hunt through the town, and Danny being very late for school, the two of them ended up at a facility on the outskirts of town called “Axion Labs.” It seemed like an odd place for the dog to want to go but when it nearly jumped out of his arms in excitement, and Danny managed to catch it last second, he knew he had the right place. “Was this your home?” Danny asked. Cujo barked. “Okay, then.” Danny said.

Danny turned invisible and intangible, and entered the building. The moment they crossed the threshold Cujo tried to wriggle out of his grasp every step of the way, but Danny held on tight, worried about the potential destruction the pup could cause to the facility, especially if it decided to grow again.

One by one Danny made his way through each room, passing easily through the double steel doors. One by one he’d look down at the dog and ask if this was the room it was looking for, and one by one the dog would whine, prompting Danny to the next room. The facility was huge and held many cabinets and closets. The longer Danny looked, the more he began to fear he’d skipped the correct room. But, time was all he needed. He finally found himself in an especially empty room with an oddly depressing aura over it. In his arms, Cujo began to yap like crazy. Danny touched down and held up a sphere of ectoplasmic energy to light up the dark room. His heart sank at what he saw. Empty beds and abandoned dog bowls painted a very telling picture of what happened here. In his distraction, Cujo managed to jump out of his arms, but Danny didn’t try to grab him again, merely watched what the pup was going to do.

The little dog trotted past the dog beds, past the bowls, to a tarp of bundled up items atop a pallet. Without hesitation, the little dog jumped in and moments later reappeared with a squeaky toy in its mouth. Danny’s heart melted and sank all at once. It was just a puppy; it didn’t deserve this fate. All it wanted was its toy. Danny watched as the puppy trotted over to him, and Danny kneeled down to its height. It carefully dropped its toy before jumping up on his knees and licking his face. Danny smiled and pet it back. Then the small dog jumped down, picked up its toy, and walked away, dissipating into the air.

And that was that.

Danny stood there, watching the space where it vanished, and felt bittersweet. A jingle pulled him out of his thoughts and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He had a text from Sam which read, ‘Skipping school again today?’

Danny typed out a message and sent back, ‘I’ll be there. Just had to make a detour. See you soon.’

So, Danny pocketed the phone, and with one last look at the empty space, left the building and flew to school.

Danny told his friends all about what happened later that day at lunch. They decided to eat outside today. Danny relished the breeze.

“I actually heard Axion upgraded their security recently.” Tucker said. Sam gave him a look. “What? A techno-geek needs to stay caught up on the latest technology.”

“So they just kill those poor dogs because they’re not useful anymore?” Sam growled. “They could’ve given them loving homes instead! But no, that’s too much hassle for those trash corporations.”

Danny didn’t disagree. But, he felt more sad than angry about it so he didn’t say anything. Instead, he tried to think of the positive aspect of the situation. He got to help his own kind. It’s been such a long time since he’s had a positive encounter with another ghost. Despite being a perfect split, growing up in the Ghost Zone has left him feeling more like a ghost than a human, and he hated fighting his own kind. It felt like a betrayal. Sure, most of the ghosts disregarded him in fear of Clockwork but… most of the humans disregarded him too, so that aspect didn’t feel like a factor.

Eating regularly, sleeping regularly, even walking regularly. It’s been multiple months now and Danny wondered if he’d ever get used to it, or if he’s doomed to a life of constant mild discontent. He thought about Sidney. It’s been a while since they’ve spoken and Danny wondered what he’s been up to, wondered if he had any updates on the Ghost Zone.

Danny decided enough was enough. He’d try and make friends with the next ghost he’d potentially have to face, let them know he was still a ghost as much as he was a human.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Seemingly overnight everyone in school was talking about Ember McLain. Her face, her merchandise, and especially her music was around every corner. Tucker and Sam showed up to school in her t-shirts and Tucker took it a step further with an Ember wig to replace his beret. Ember was a talented and powerful ghost, and Danny knew he had his work cut out for him. Luckily, she came to him.

During what was supposed to be a “cramtastic study session” due to poor grades from the whole class, Ember pulled up with her band on a float in front of the school. Danny sat on the sidelines and waited. He kept an eye on her, and after saving Lancer from the droves of brain-washed students, followed after her float. He kept invisible, following close behind, until they were away from civilians. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt… or give her access to create another army. He followed her all the way back to the Amity Park stadium.

The float fazed inside the building and once it did, she jumped off and whooped. “Now that’s what I call rock and roll! Soon enough, the whole world will be saying my name!”

Danny flew a few feet away from her and dropped his cover. “Hi, Ember.”

Immediately, Ember grabbed her guitar and strummed it in his direction. “Clockwork can’t protect you out here, dipstick!”

Danny quickly dodged the attack and landed back down. “I’m not here to fight,” he said. “I just want to talk.”

Ember scoffed. “I’ve heard all about the rep you’ve got from the others. You left the Ghost Zone and betrayed your kind. You fight us now to protect your precious humans.”

Danny frowned. He couldn’t argue with her because nothing she said was incorrect. So, he bowed his head and whispered, “I know.” Ember grew silent, long enough to make Danny look up. She looked bewildered but at which part Danny didn’t know.

“You know kid, I always thought you were weird.” She said.

“I always thought you were cool.” Danny replied.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Would you have talked to me if I did?” Danny asked. He watched the way she thought about it then shrugged.

“You got me there.”

“Well,” Danny said. “You’re talking to me now. There’s no need to fight.”

“You’re right,” Ember agreed. “Music doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“But brainwashing does.” Danny argued softly.

Ember studied him for a moment before she spoke again. “Why are you helping the humans anyway? I know you’re a halfa but you grew up as a ghost. Why suddenly turn around and betray your own kind?”

She had answered her own question. “Because I’m a halfa." He answered. "When you guys attack the humans, someone needs to protect them.”

“And what about us?” Ember argued, a rise to her voice. “You just leave us to rot?”

Danny shook his head. The rise in her voice only seemed to quieten his own. “I want to protect you, too.” He said. “My human parents are ghost hunters. I have to make sure they don’t hurt any of you while I protect them at the same time.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “It doesn’t get easier,” he admitted, thinking of the peace between worlds he wished he could achieve. “The things I truly want and the things you truly want are unobtainable. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t try.” He smiled.

Ember narrowed her eyes, her guitar hung loosely around her shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t let you brainwash the humans,” Danny explained. “But you’re talented, and you make music people enjoy. Having the whole world is unobtainable but that doesn’t mean you can’t still be a star. Be a musician. Have concerts. Create albums and merchandise. People will buy it. People will love it. No one can have the whole world but that doesn’t mean you can’t be someone’s world.”

Conflict crossed Ember’s face and she seemed to be torn between her resolve and her heart. She gripped the neck of her guitar but didn’t attack. The flames in her ponytail flickered and crackled, dying and reigniting. “I just want to be loved.” She whispered. “All I’ve ever wanted was for the world to know my name.”

“They will.” Danny said. “And they’ll love you. And you’ll know it’s real because they aren’t brainwashed.”

A tear ran down Ember’s face and smudged her makeup, but she smiled. “You know kid,” she said, wiping the tear, away. “You’re all right.”

Danny smiled. “Does that mean we’re friends?”

“It means we’re cool.” Ember replied.

For Danny, for now, that was good enough. “I’ll see you around.” He said, turning intangible. “If you ever need anything, you know where to find me.” With that, he flew through the ceiling and back to school.

When he arrived, it was clear Ember broke her spell. But many, leaning toward most, still whispered excitedly about her upcoming concert. Sam, on the other hand, did not. “Man, what came over me?” She asked, rubbing her head. “Not only is her music not my taste at all, but look around!” She gestured to the copious amounts of Ember merchandise in the school hallway. “I’d never like something this popular!”

“It’s your subconscious bleeding through,” Tucker said smugly, folding his arms. “Letting you know how amazing Ember really is!”

“Gag. Yeah, right.” Sam replied. “I’ll just call it a moment of temporary insanity.”

Danny smiled from the sidelines. He decided to keep this one to himself.

In subsequent interactions with ghosts, Danny tried his best to offer his friendship, or at the very least an understanding of some sort. For some, it worked, like with Johnny 13 and Kitty. He let them know they could come and go as they pleased, experiencing the human world, but they could not harm or overshadow any of the humans. He told them to wait until Kitty got her strength back and could leave on her own, and Danny would not bother them. They agreed to this arrangement and Danny offered to let them know when the best times to leave the portal were.

For others, like Technus, it didn’t work so well, and Danny had to fight him. Some, no matter the reasoning or pleading he tried, simply did not want to listen, did not want peace. So, Danny had to fight to keep the peace. An oxymoron at its finest. It never failed to leave a pang in his stomach. But, for now, he’d take what he could get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Please go show lilianade-comics some love! They are an amazing and talented artist, and blew me away with how well they captured Danny! <3

Thank you so much for reading and have a lovely day/night!

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #cujo (danny phantom)#sam manson #tucker foley #ember mclain #lost time #renegade writes

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spectacled-renegade-writes · 8 months

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Commission for @spectacled-renegade of Danny from their An Early Start AU!

#also in case anyone may be wondering danny is doing the american sign language sign for friend #i love this so muchhhhhhhh #an early start au #danny phantom

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Ectoberhaunt 2023: Science VS Magic

Dear Phandom new and old, sorry for the delay but this here is our 2023 theme and prompt list! Once again we've changed it up a little to make it a little easier on all of us, and to invite fun and mayhem Phandom wide! Prompts are once again Monday-Friday, with Friday being singular prompts, and weekends being (mostly) free as catch up days. The only real change is our new 'isekai weekend' on the 21st and 22nd, with two different sub prompts for the days. Isekai is a subgenre of anime in which a character ends up in a different place or world all together. It literally translates to 'otherworld'! The two prompts for this weekend are 'past prompt', where we want to see the Phandom use a prompt from either of our previous calendars. The other is 'portal shenanigans'. We highly encourage you to create crossover content and AUs you've wanted to play with. As always, our last prompt day is October 24th to make way for the Ectober Week event. This means our free days are the 1st, 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, with the 25th-31st being @ectoberweekofficial's time to shine. Please tag all prompt fills as "Ectoberhaunt23", and follow the additional posting guidelines below!

Posting for this event begins October 2nd!

Down below are our written out calendar prompts (for accessibility) AND our posting guidelines. Check 'em out!

The Prompts

Below are the listed prompts in date order, if it's blank it's a catch up day. First prompt is Science, second is Magic!

Tecnomancy vs Botonamancy

Black Cat vs White Crow

Aliens vs Zombies

Hunt vs Haunt

Tabletop

Robots vs Dragons

Pseudoscience vs Occultism

Dread vs Calm

Obsession vs Repression

Horror Flick

Revenant vs Death Echo

Blood vs Flesh

Unravel vs Intertwine

Claws vs Horns

Danse Macabre

Isekai: Past Prompts (2021 | 2022)

Isekai: Portal Shenanigans

Technus vs Magic

Science vs Dora Ectober Week!

coming soon

Post Guidelines

The following are the posting guidelines. Please follow them so we can reblog and share your posts without issue. We will also have this as a post available on our blog separately.

Tag all posts with “Ectoberhaunt23” so we can find it. If you do not use this tag, we may not find you.

Tag which calendar you're pulling from (“EH Science” or “EH Magic”), which day the prompt is for ("Day X"), and which prompt(s) you completed ("Eyes" "Teeth"). Example: #ectoberhaunt23 #EH science #day 5 #hunt Single day prompts, such as the ones on Friday, do not need a tag for which calendar it's for.

Put your fics under a readmore. Add a summary before the cut with a short preview, content warnings, and which prompts were used. Then, add a readmore no more than 150 words or 10 lines/groups of text under your summary. If you're using mobile, type :readmore: and hit enter to make a readmore. If you do not do this, we will NOT reblog your post.

Make sure to tag all common content warnings (blood, gore, death, drugs, body horror, existentialism, & vermin)

We will try to reblog every prompt we can. Feel free to @ us in the post too or send us a DM with the post!!

Feel free to shoot us an ask about rules/clarifications and any queries on prompts. Our discord is open as are our messages.

Here is a spreadsheet you can use to track your progress made by the talented @ajitated

Title graphic by @kawaiijohn | Calendar graphics by @ajitated

#save for later #danny phantom #ectoberhaunt #ectober month #ectoberhaunt 2023 #ectoberhaunt23 #long post

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An Early Start - Chapter 18 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 18:

The hollow feeling didn’t go away after that day with his friends, but it did become manageable. The three of them slept over at Tucker’s house that night, lying about an English project they had to work on, and went to school together the next day. As they entered the threshold of Casper High, Jazz waited for them at the entrance, looking worried.

“Danny,” Jazz said. Danny gestured for Sam and Tucker to go ahead of him and he turned to his sister. He’d told her last night that he was spending the night at a friend’s house but hadn’t answered any other subsequent texts. He felt bad for worrying her, she deserved better. Danny reached forward and hugged her. Jazz startled for a moment but quickly recovered, and graciously hugged him back.

“I’m sorry,” Danny said when he pulled away. He couldn’t quite keep eye contact with her, the shame in his chest squandered such ability.

“I forgive you,” Jazz replied gently. “But please, tell me what is going on. I can’t read your mind so you have to tell me how to help you.”

Danny managed a glance at his sister’s expression. She looked tired. He wondered if she’d stayed up all night worrying about him. The thought made him feel worse. Danny held on tight to his backpack straps and he could feel the moment holding on turned to stuck, as ice surrounded the enclosed area. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her the truth so bad... He suddenly wished he hadn’t sent his friends off. Once again he felt like crying and he was beginning to wonder if that feeling would ever go away. Another quick glance at his sister showed that she felt like that, too. Maybe he wasn’t ready to go back to school yet.

“Jazz and Danny Fenton.” The moment between them broke as both siblings looked up and saw Mr. Lancer standing over them. “Is everything alright here? The bell rang a minute ago.” Had it? Danny hadn’t even noticed.

“Yes, everything’s alright, Mr. Lancer.” Jazz said, regaining her composure worryingly quick. Danny wondered how often she’s had to quickly put up a façade over the years. “Danny still isn’t feeling very well so I was just going to walk him to class.”

Mr. Lancer eyed Danny and Danny stared back, nodding slightly to agree with what Jazz said. “Well,” the teacher eventually broke. “Since you’re late anyway, and you were absent yesterday, you may as well take this time to meet our new school counselor.” He pulled out a pre-signed hall pass from his chest pocket, where he kept a few spares, and gave it to Jazz. “Jazz, I’ll take it from here.”

Jazz took it but turned to Danny in worry. Danny merely nodded to let her know it was okay. So, she hugged him one last time and said, “I’ll check on you later, little brother.”

Danny watched her walk away as he followed Mr. Lancer down an opposite hallway.

The moment they arrived at the new counselor’s office, and Danny saw the name plate on the door, his eyes narrowed. Had she really not gotten the memo? Lancer didn’t notice Danny's expression as he knocked on the door and let himself in.

Penelope Spectra smiled as they entered but quickly frowned the moment her eyes landed on Danny. “Ms. Spectra,” Lancer said, oblivious as ever. “This is Danny Fenton. You were supposed to meet yesterday but he was absent.”

Danny and Spectra shared a long gaze that broke only when she realized she needed to respond before it got awkward. She replaced her brilliant smile and turned her attention back to Lancer. “Why, thank you, Mr. Lancer! But I find I work most effective one on one, so I’ll take it from here!”

Danny eyed Mr. Lancer, wondering what he’d do. After all, Spectra was pretty convincing. Mr. Lancer merely patted Danny twice on the shoulder and said, “Then I’ll let you work your magic.” He nodded to Danny. “Mr. Fenton.” Then saw himself out. Danny and Spectra kept quiet until the door closed and Lancer was gone.

“I thought you’d know I was here,” Danny said casually, taking a seat and dropping his backpack on the floor.

“I’ve been busy.” She replied shortly, taking a seat of her own.

A pregnant pause fell between them for a short while as they both worked through the situation in their minds. But eventually, Danny said, “You came out of the same portal I did, right? The one at Fenton Works?”

“We did.” Spectra agreed.

Danny didn’t need to ask who the other ghost in ‘we’ was. He knew Spectra and Bertrand were thick as thieves. “Clockwork sent me here when that portal opened,” Danny explained. “He wants me to protect the humans now that they’re vulnerable.”

“And they weren’t vulnerable before?”

Danny hummed and thought about that. She had a point there. But, he also knew that she knew what he had meant. Still, he stated the obvious anyway. “They’ve never had a permanent portal like this before.”

Spectra laced her fingers together and leaned forward on her desk, a wicked grin crossing her face. “What are you going to do to stop me?”

Danny stared at her perfectly manicured nails and knew she was trying to be intimidating. Maybe in the Ghost Zone he’d be intimidated, or maybe on any other day in this world when he didn’t feel so hollow. What was worse is that he knew she was feeding off of it right now. “Ask you to stop.” He replied.

Spectra nearly laughed. “Ask me?” She chortled, sitting back in her chair.

But Danny wasn’t amused, and he merely nodded. “Yes. I don’t like fighting so I won’t if I don’t have to.”

“Is that a threat?” Spectra asked.

“A plea.” Danny responded.

Spectra pulled back her shoulders and tapped her fingers against the arm rests of her chair. “A negotiation then.”

Danny felt tired. “If it’s reasonable.”

“Every school has a batch of rotten kids,” Spectra said carefully. “You’re pretty puny compared to a lot of the other kids here, so I’m sure you get teased a lot. Let me have them, the ones you don’t like, and we’ll be on our way.”

It was alluring, Danny wouldn’t lie, to have Dash and the other popular kids feel a taste of their own medicine for a while, but Danny had a duty, and his own morals, so he had to refuse. “Protecting the humans means protecting all the humans.” Danny said.

A pinched expression crossed Spectra’s face but Danny could tell he won this argument. “Fine,” she waved her hand. “It was worth a shot.” Then let out a resigned sigh. “But, I’m not enough of an idiot to go against Clockwork’s wishes, so you win. Until next time, Phantom.” Danny watched as Spectra stood up and in a swirling green vortex, she vanished. Danny slumped in his chair.

Well, that was a relief.

After a moment of thought, Danny moved over to Spectra’s computer left behind and opened her school email. An email was another thing he hadn’t known about until Tucker gave him his speech about computer etiquette. Danny typed out a message to Lancer excusing himself for the rest of the day. He learned the first time he skipped school, not long after his arrival, that an unexcused absence was apparently a big deal. Human customs…

After hitting send, Danny grabbed his backpack and flew through the ceiling and away from the school, taking peace in the open sky, high above the clouds.

Later that day, he met Jazz at home.

“Danny Fenton, I am sick and tired of you going missing.” Jazz huffed the moment Danny entered the front door. Jazz had been in the living room and by the looks of it, trying to do her homework. Their mother and father were nowhere to be seen, which meant they were down in the lab. Danny thought his sister was going to go off on a rant but instead she pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

She was crying.

She pulled away.

“Please,” Jazz begged. “Please tell me what is going on, Danny!”

Danny couldn’t handle this anymore, he couldn't keep this up, not when he kept hurting his sister like this. The guilt was too much. Life in the Ghost Zone had been so much easier than this. Danny needed to tell her. He had to tell her. He couldn’t lie to her anymore. Not her. Not the one person in the universe who has cared about him, cared for him, since the moment of his existence. He reached forward, took her hand, and began to pull.

“Danny?” Jazz asked, momentarily thrown for a loop. “Where are we going?”

But Danny just kept pulling until she started walking with him. He led her up to his bedroom and shut the door.

“Danny you’re scaring me.” Jazz said.

Danny locked the door so their parents couldn’t barge in and turned to his sister... and transformed before her very eyes. Jazz gasped.

Danny hovered over to her and landed a foot away.

Slowly, Jazz reached out. “You’re- you’re…”

“Half ghost.” Danny finished for her. ‘Ghost’ was unfortunately one of the first signs she had to learn.

Jazz let out another gasp, strangled unlike the last one. “But… how?”

So, Danny transformed back, sat on the edge of his bed, invited her to join him, and pulled out his notebook to write out his story. Jazz sat beside him, waiting patiently, reading the words as he wrote them out. Danny told her a condensed version of everything that’s happened to him, and where he’s been the last ten years, and why he’s back now. He didn’t dare look up at her as he wrote. He knew his distaste for their parents was all out loathing for her. He was not ready to face her reaction yet.

But, he could not wait forever, and he finished his story off with, Sam and Tucker know. They found out on accident a while back. Please don’t tell anyone.

“So…” Jazz finally spoke up. “All these years…” And it seemed like she was having trouble accepting it but in what way Danny couldn’t tell. “You’ve been living as a ghost?”

Slowly, Danny nodded.

“And all this time, you’ve been trapped in another dimension?”

Again, Danny nodded.

For a moment Jazz was silent, unmoving, expressionless. Then, all at once, expressionless turned into a scowl and her entire aura screamed resentful. Danny pulled back slightly but did not flinch away. “They- they…” Danny placed a hand on hers but it did nothing to calm her down. “Not only did they take you from me, not only did they kill you, they left you stranded in a dangerous parallel dimension! By yourself! At four-years-old!” Jazz couldn’t sit still anymore so she stood up and began to pace. “It’s no wonder there are little, common things you don’t know!” She threw her hands in the air. “How could you have possibly experienced them?! You were just a little kid and they left you stranded!”

Danny reached out and tried to tell her he wasn’t, that Clockwork found him, like he'd said before, but she just pulled away.

“You got lucky, they got lucky that a friendly ghost found you. That you weren’t killed. Properly killed!” To Jazz’s credit, she was right, there is a lot of danger in the Ghost Zone. Suddenly she stopped pacing and finally turned to Danny, her scowl replaced with unbridled despair, and she whispered, “You must have been so scared.” She reached forward and brought him into another tight hug. Danny liked his sister’s hugs, he really did, but he was starting to feel suffocated. “You were only four and everything you ever knew was ripped away from you. Danny I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

Danny patted her back, hoping the lack of a proper hug returned on his part would send the message. Either it did or it was just coincidental, but she did happen to pull away. “It’s O-K.” He responded. “You’re right. At first I was scared but… but it all turned out alright.” He pulled out his notebook. Jazz has been studying a lot but there were still words she did not know, so in the meantime their conversations consisted of a mix of writing and sign on Danny’s part. I never forgot about you, and I missed you a lot, but I enjoyed what became of my life. Danny smiled at his sister. I was lonely a lot but I wasn’t unhappy.

“Are you still lonely now?” Jazz asked, calming down and sitting beside him again.

Danny didn’t respond right away, he thought about it. He had friends here. He also had friends in the Ghost Zone. He had family here. He also had family in the Ghost Zone. Honestly, Danny still didn’t know where he belonged.

He nodded, but refused to look at his sister’s face and see the frown he knew appeared.

Jazz placed a warm hand on his shoulder and asked, “What part of it is lonely?”

“Everything.” Danny answered, but hesitated, wondering if that was overkill, but he decided it wasn’t and nodded to himself. “Yeah, everything.”

Ever patient as Jazz was, she couldn’t keep her aspiring psychologist side out of her voice as she asked, “Could you be more specific?"

Yeah, Danny thought, he could. I’m a human and a ghost. I should belong to both worlds but I don’t feel like I belong to either. I’ve lived in both, I have friends in both, I have foes in both, and I have family in both. But there’s just enough that’s different about me that makes me other, just enough to belong nowhere.

“Danny,” Jazz spoke. “That’s not true. You have people who love you and that’s enough. You don’t have to be one thing or the other. You’re both, and it’s okay to be both.”

Even while Danny had written his answer, he knew Jazz would say that in response. He knew she would not understand. But, he was grateful nevertheless, so he smiled at her.

She squeezed his shoulder. “How about I make us some dinner, sound good?”

“Sounds good.” Danny replied.

With one last smile, Jazz left his room, closing the door with a soft click. Danny looked down at his notebook in front of him, at everything he wrote, and tore out the pages. He crumpled them in his hand and incinerated them with a single sphere of ecto-energy. No need to risk his parents finding it, after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Jazz finally knows! Thank you so much for reading and have a lovely day/night!

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #jazz fenton #penelope spectra #mr. lancer #depression #depressed danny fenton #lost time #renegade writes

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An Early Start - Chapter 17 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Reminder: This story will have 25 chapters and be split into 3 distinct parts. Chapter 17 is the start of part 3, aka the final part.

Chapter 17:

Part 3: Both and Neither

One morning, not long after the incident with Vlad, Danny wakes up and he doesn’t want to get out of bed, and he doesn’t want to go to school. So, he pulled his blanket back over his head and tried to go back to sleep. Sleep is the one thing he cherished about being half-human all these years. As a ghost, Danny didn’t need to sleep. But as a human, he could drift away and spend five to eight hours without a single thought. But just as Danny found himself drifting back into that peaceful darkness, a knock sounded at his door, pulling him back.

“Danny?” Jazz’s voice sounded from the other side. “Are you awake? It’s almost time to leave for school.” Danny did not bother knocking on his nightstand to let her know he was awake. He kept his eyes closed and remained still, hoping she would go away. Alas, the universe had different plans, and he heard his door slowly creak open and Jazz saying, “I’m coming in.”

Still, Danny did not move, but he did open his eyes and glance at her. Jazz took a seat at the edge of his bed. “Danny, are you okay?” She asked, placing the back of her hand against his forehead. “You don’t have a fever,” she mumbled. “Are you feeling alright?”

Physically? Yes. Emotionally? Well, he didn’t know the emotion, or perhaps lack thereof, that he felt at the moment. So, he shook his head.

“If you’re feeling sick then maybe you should stay home from school today.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “I’ll call the school and let them know neither of us are coming in, so I can take care of you.”

No! Danny wanted to yell. More than anything else in the world, he just wanted to be alone right now. So, he quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could dial, using his other hand to point at her, then to the window. “You go.” He was saying.

Jazz frowned. “I don’t feel comfortable leaving you home alone with mom and dad, who won’t even notice you’re not feeling well.”

Danny shook his head and let go of her wrist. “Just need sleep.” He assured. Jazz looked conflicted with that but Danny forced himself to smile to reassure her. “I’ll be fine.”

“Well…” Jazz chewed her lip. “If you’re sure. But keep your phone on you so I can check in, okay?”

“O-K.”

“Okay,” Jazz repeated. “Well, I better get going. Do you want breakfast first?”

Eating was the last thing on Danny’s mind, he hadn’t even thought about it. He shook his head. Once again his response seemed to upset his sister, and he wished he knew how to stop doing that. But Jazz relented this time. “I’ll be going then. Love you.”

“You too.” Danny replied. He watched her leave and the moment she closed his door, he let the emotion drop from his face. If he was being honest with himself, he felt nothing and everything at the same time, or rather, the type of nothing that felt like everything; the type that made him shut down. He’s never felt it this strongly before. Danny rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

He was alone with his parents. The thought occurred to him suddenly, like remembering something important you had to do last minute. All of the sudden Danny wanted to be anywhere else in the world but here, and lucky for him he knew just where that somewhere else could be. So, he dragged himself out of bed, got dressed, then transformed into his ghost half, his true half, he felt, and flew through the ceiling.

Danny took the scenic route on the way to the abandoned house, letting the wind whip across his face and block out his thoughts. But despite the longer commute, he still managed to arrive in no time, and after doing the usual onceover to make sure it was empty, touched down in the living room and returned human. Danny zipped up his hoodie, placed the hood over his head, and lay down on the threadbare couch that occupied the room. All he wanted to do was not think for a while. He’d deal with the rest later.

Danny let his eyes slip closed and in the safety of solitude, fell asleep.

“Is he okay?”

“He looks okay. Should we wake him?”

“I don’t know. If dude crashed here, he must be exhausted.”

“Why did he crash here? You think something happened at home?”

“I don’t know. I saw his sister at school today and she seemed normal.”

Danny woke slowly to the voices. Finding another form of safety in their familiarity. He cracked his eyes open and saw Sam and Tucker standing over him. But still, the moment he opened his eyes, the empty feeling decided to return, and he sat up without so much as a smile in greeting.

“Danny,” Sam said, taking a seat next to him now that there was room. “Are you okay? You haven’t answered any of our texts and you weren’t at school today.”

Danny pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. Four missed texts from Sam. Two missed texts from Tucker. Six missed texts from Jazz. Danny opened the texts from Jazz. Most of them were checking in on him, making sure he was okay, but the last one was her asking him where he was, since he wasn’t there when she arrived home. To put her mind at ease he texted her back. Sorry. I was asleep all day. I felt better when I woke up so I went for a walk. I’ll be back later. Danny hit send and pocketed his phone.

“Okay,” Tucker said, sitting down at his other side. “Now that you’re done lying to your sister, want to tell us what’s actually going on? Is it like a ghost thing? No offense man, but you look awful.”

Danny snorted at that. He reached down to unzip his hoodie if only to play with the zipper. On one hand, it felt nice being with his friends. On the other… Danny stood up and made his way around the couch to go upstairs. His friends followed. The portrait of Clockwork’s Tower was still there, vibrant as the day he painted it. For a moment, he just stood there, staring at it, before sitting down on the floor.

A hand appeared on his shoulder.

“You’re homesick?” Sam asked.

Danny nodded absently. Of course he was but… there was something else too, something separate, or maybe not, maybe different but connected, pulling at his heart. He didn't really know how to describe it. His friends took a seat on either side of him again.

“I met someone like me.” Danny said after a moment. He barely lifted his hands from his lap and his movements were sluggish.

“Someone like…” Tucker trailed.

“Another H-A-L-F-A.”

“But I thought there was no one else like you.” Sam said.

“I lied.” Danny replied. He didn't look at his friends, he kept his eyes on the painting in front of him. “I didn’t do it maliciously I just… didn’t know anything about him, or even who he was.”

“But you knew of him,” Sam surmised, no hint of anger in her voice like Danny expected.

He nodded. “Turns out he was closer than I thought. He's an old friend of my parents.”

“What?!” Tucker exclaimed.

Danny nodded again. “They made the same mistake twice, but he wasn’t sent to the Ghost Zone like I was.”

“Shouldn’t that be great news?” Tucker asked, calming down. “There’s someone out there who you can relate to.”

Danny bowed his head and frowned, he suddenly felt like crying again. He didn’t. “He is obsessed with vengeance, and blames my father. Of course he’s right but… he wants to kill him, and I don’t want that, no matter what my father did.”

“Isn’t this both of your parents’ fault?” Sam asked.

“For me it is,” Danny replied. “But I think with V-L-A-D, the other half ghost, I think it’s just my dad’s fault.” The same hurt from the night of their battle wrapped itself around Danny again and he bit down hard on his lip. “He wanted me to join him, and I wanted to join…”

“But you don’t hurt people.” Sam finished for him.

Danny wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed his eyes shut tight. He felt more alone than ever. More… other than ever. Everything he felt growing up: isolated Christmas parties, turned heads, lonely day after crushing lonely day… it all returned full force, everything he’s managed to push down. “I don’t know if I’m a ghost or a human. It seems like I should feel like both, and maybe sometimes I do feel like that, but mostly, I feel like neither. I don’t know which one I’m supposed to be. Both are lonely... Neither side truly understands." Danny sighed. "But he did.”

His friends frowned and Sam put her hand back on his shoulder. “Danny…”

“I tried to get through to him. For a second it seemed like I did.” Danny could still recall the way Vlad faltered. He could also recall the expression moments later when his dad crashed through the wall in the Fenton RV. “But then my father showed up, and all I could feel from him was hatred.” That wasn’t even the worst part. No, the worst part is what Danny felt now, what he felt the moment he left the castle. His cheeks burned in shame.

“Danny?” Tucker asked, placing his hand on Danny’s other shoulder. “What is it?”

“I still want to join him.” He replied, keeping his hands close to his chest.

Sam and Tucker shared a look and Danny didn’t look up to see what it was, but all of the sudden both of his friends were hugging him. “I don’t think that’s something to be ashamed of.” Sam said. “Your parents suck and you finally found someone who understands you.”

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed. “If I was in your situation… I don’t know what I’d do.”

Danny pulled his knees up and held on to his friends. He glanced back up at the portrait.

Sam, Tucker and Jazz, they seemed to be the only thing most days keeping him from abandoning his mission and going back to the Ghost Zone. He closed his eyes and leaned in to the embrace. He didn’t know if he could ever let this go.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: We're officially at the the third and final part of this story! Thank you so much to all of you for following along so far. I hope the remaining chapters won't disappoint! <3

I hope you all have a wonderful day/night!

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #jazz fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #depression #depressed danny fenton #lost time #renegade writes

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spectacled-renegade-writes · 8 months

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An Early Start - Chapter 16 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 16:

Nighttime in Masters Manor left the entire castle with the same unsettling feeling as the man himself. But Danny was exhausted, especially after not sleeping the night before in that stupid RV, so he resolved to try and get at least some sleep. He managed a restless two hours before his ghost sense woke him up. Whatever. It’s not like he was sleeping very well anyway. Danny turned in to his ghost half, always a welcome return, and went to go find the source. It honestly didn’t surprise him that this castle was haunted, but he wanted to make sure none of them would hurt his family.

The source of his ghost sense did not take long to find. While invisible, he saw those same three vulture ghosts from back in Amity Park, and they finally found his father as they trailed behind him while he groggily made his way to the bathroom. Danny swooped underneath the floor and brought his dad with him, dropping him off at the bathroom before returning. “Hi, guys,” Danny said. “I thought I sent you to Florida.” The vultures turned around at the sound of his voice, scowls adorning their faces and a biting remark surely at the ready. But, the moment they did turn, they proceeded to scream, and flew off.

Well, okay then. “That was weird.” Danny mumbled.

“Ah, bright boy.”

Danny spun around and found himself greeted face to face with a different ghost altogether. Black hair, blue face and a white suit. The ghost floated with arms crossed and a smirk across his face. Danny lifted a hand and waved. “Hello.”

“Clockwork’s ward,” the ghost said. “I’ve heard tales of you. I also heard you recently left the Ghost Zone.”

“A lot of ghosts have heard of me,” Danny replied. “But my name is Phantom. What’s your name?”

The ghost only smiled and phased through the wall behind him, into the castle's study. Danny followed. “You can call me Plasmius.” The ghost said. “Tell me, my boy, why would a ghost like you decide to leave the Ghost Zone, now of all times, to protect the humans? What changed?”

Danny had a feeling he was going to have to fight this ghost, but he could tell he was powerful, so Danny didn’t know if it was a fight to win. He remained calm as he answered. “Clockwork gave me a mission.”

“So you decide to just follow his orders blindly? Oh, you are such a child.”

“He raised me,” Danny scowled despite himself. He took a breath and centered himself again, now was not the time to lose his temper. “Why are you here? Do you know those vultures?”

“I hired those idiot vultures!” Plasmius announced. “They were supposed to kill Jack, not believe the weak lie of some teenage ghost. I guess I’ll just have to finish him off myself,” and his face darkened. “But you first.” Plasmius shot a blast of pink ectoplasmic energy at Danny and Danny quickly put up a force field to dodge it.

“Can’t we talk this out?” Danny tried. “I don’t want to fight you!”

Plasmius only smirked. “No you most certainly do not.” He shot another blast at Danny and Danny let go of flight to dodge it. The moment he reached the ground, he touched the floor, and a shot of ice fractured out, climbing up Plasmius once it reached him, completely encasing him.

Danny shot back in to the air and flew toward him. “Look, it doesn’t have to –“ But seconds later Danny was thrown back. From inside his encasing of ice, fire began to burn from Plasmius’ entire body, and once the ice was melted enough, he broke free.

“Clever,” Plasmius said. “But still not stronger than me!” He flew toward Danny and split into four versions of himself, surrounding Danny. Trapped on all sides, Danny knew he was at a disadvantage, cloning himself was something he's not yet managed to master. Danny knew he only had one choice left, but it was destructive, and he was not at that point yet, so he fought.

Danny gave it everything he could, fought with everything he had, but it still wasn’t enough. Plasmius countered every attack and immediately got back up every time he was hit.

“Why do you want to kill Jack Fenton so bad?!” Danny demanded.

“Because,” Plasmius growled. “He deserves to die.”

“Then you leave me no other choice.” Danny steeled himself, took a deep breath, and released a ghostly wail that shook the entire room. Books fell off their shelves, chairs went flying, and Plasmius screamed as he was thrown against the opposite wall and slid to the floor. The battle was over. When he was sure Plasmius would not get up, Danny too fell to the floor, exhaustion from the fight mixed with the energy drained from his most powerful attack, he blacked out, letting go of his transformation against his will.

Danny woke up one more time that night. Adrenaline hit the moment he regained consciousness and he desperately tried to fight away the binds that held him. Only after he escaped did he realize that they were not binds at all, but in fact his blanket.

“You gave me quite a scare.” Danny whipped his head over to see Vlad Masters standing in his doorway. “Are you okay, my boy?”

Danny looked around. How… What?

“I found you passed out in my study,” Vlad explained. “So, I picked you up and brought you back to bed.”

Danny narrowed his eyes. Shouldn't Vlad have noticed the destruction? Yet again something about this man didn't sit right with Danny, but they were alone and Vlad had every opportunity to drop the potential façade if he wanted to. Since he didn't, and remained innocently in place, Danny tentatively decided to drop it for now. So, Danny placed his hands on his chest and bowed his head in apology.

“Not to worry,” Vlad assured. “What’s a scare between friends?” He turned on his heal to make his way back to the door but stopped long enough to say, “Sleep tight, little badger.” Danny watched as Vlad left the room and closed the door behind him, leaving an unsettled air behind. Danny felt more stressed than ever now but at the same time, exhaustion embraced him like a wool coat and shortly after pulled him under.

The next day Danny kept his eyes peeled for any sign of those vultures, or of Plasmius, but when he went back to the study to investigate, everything was in its rightful place. It was disconcerting and Danny resolved himself to stay at least in the next room over from his father at all times, just to be safe.

Danny went back to his room once early evening rolled around to put on the suit his parents bought him, but faltered at the tie. He’s never tied a tie in his life and in fact didn’t understand their function at all. Shouldn’t the suit be enough to show one was all dressed up? Danny exited his room to seek out Jazz to see if she knew how to tie a tie, but the moment he turned the corner, he nearly ran into none other than Vlad. “Ah, Daniel,” Vlad said, stopping him by his shoulders. “You seem to be in a rush. Might there be something I can help you with?”

‘No’. Danny thought. If he could help it he’d stay away from this man as much as possible.

“Do you perhaps need help with your tie?”

Danny gulped. He really should say no and just go find Jazz, but when that’s what he decided to do, Vlad was already reaching out to help him.

“You’ve been gone so long, it’s no wonder your father never taught you how to do this. There you go, good as new.” Danny looked down and smoothed out the tie. He missed his hoodie. At least in that he didn’t feel as exposed as he did in this constricting suit. He kept his head down as he nodded in thanks. “It’s no trouble at all, little badger. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have guests to greet.” Vlad continued his way down the hall and Danny sprinted off to continue his search for his sister.

Danny found Jazz ten minutes later in a theater room, watching some black and white film about the Packers. He tapped her shoulder to get her attention. “Oh, hi Danny.” Jazz smiled. "I was wondering where you were." Danny tilted his head and pointed to the door. Jazz wrinkled her nose. “And watch a bunch of old fossils pogo to new wave music? Pass.” Danny didn’t know what half those words even meant. But, he got the message. He shrugged and left her to her own devices. Honestly, Danny wanted to join her, but he had to make sure no vulture ghosts, or any other ghosts, would try to hurt his father.

The moment he entered the party room with his parents, he regretted his decision. Danny didn’t know if it was due to the amount of people present, but the room felt smaller than many of the other rooms in the castle. The music felt too loud and there were too many smells from too many body sprays. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and braced himself for the evening to come.

“Hey, Harry!” Jack called. From across the room Danny could see a woman in a green suit grimace in discontent. Okay, impatience with his father was officially removed from the list of things that make Vlad Masters unsettling.

The woman walked over to them and said with faux pleasantries, “Jack, Maddie, how nice…”

Danny’s father remained oblivious as usual as he wrapped a large hand around Danny’s shoulder and introduced the woman. “...But back in my college days she was just Harry. Harry Chin!” Danny cringed at the same moment his father laughed. Goodness, Danny really wanted to leave.

Danny watched his mother apologize for his father’s behavior, and his father take his mother to dance. Danny sagged his shoulders but when Harriet walked up next to him, he gave her a tight smile. “I’ve heard of you,” Harriet said. “I couldn’t not look into it when I saw the name Fenton cross my desk. Sorry you had to come home to that.” Danny followed her gaze to his father, who was knocking people down left and right, and couldn’t even be mad.

Danny contented himself with sitting at a table and tried to pass the time by counting how many people there were, but kept needing to restart, because people kept coming and going and no one would stay in one place. He was grateful when he was given an excuse to leave. Vlad appeared next to him and said, “Daniel, there you are, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor.” Danny perked up and nodded. He didn't particularly like this man but if he was giving him an excuse to leave, then Danny would take it. Vlad smiled. “Wonderful. Could you go to my lab, second door on the right upstairs, there’s a present in there for your father that I’d like you to bring down.” Danny practically jumped out of his seat at the opportunity.

The halls were empty when Danny reached the next floor and he took a moment to just breathe. He seriously could not wait for this weekend to be over. It was especially times like these where he missed the Ghost Zone the most. Danny hoped this mission wouldn’t last forever. He hoped he could one day return.

Danny made his way down the hall to the room Vlad described, and went inside. Well, this was definitely a lab. However, there was no present in sight. He looked around... This was a huge castle, was there maybe a different lab? But just as Danny was about to turn to leave, he caught sight of a framed photo, one with a piece torn off, and Danny was certain he had the other half. He pulled that torn photo of his father from his pocket and held it up to the frame. It was a perfect match. Not good.

Danny’s ghost sense went off and he transformed but the moment he did, tentacles from two ecto-pusses wrapped around his arms and lifted him into the air. It wasn’t difficult to push them off. But, the moment he did, he was captured in a net. Danny went sliding across the room and after he hit the wall, he was finally able to look up to see who attacked him, and was greeted by Skulker. Danny quickly broke free of the net and flew to the ceiling. “What are you doing here?” He demanded. “Aren’t you getting tired of this game?”

“All excellent questions that I will not answer,” Skulker replied. He fired a shot at Danny and hit him square in the chest. Danny fell to the floor and in one fluid motion, Skulker slid a cube over to him and before Danny could react, it encased itself around him. The moment it did it began to disrupt his powers and Danny watched as Skulker hit a button, and the cube began to electrocute him. The pain that followed was overwhelming and he tried to use his ghostly wail to escape, but it was all for naught. He couldn’t even so much as faze. The electrocution cancelled out his transformation and he returned human. Skulker grabbed him by his hair and put a blade to his throat. “Now,” Skulker said. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

“Enough!” Both Danny and Skulker looked up at the source of the voice. “I didn’t free you to kill the boy, Skulker.” Vlad said. “Your work here is done.”

Skulker quickly stood up straight and sheepishly said, “Yes, well, I’ll just be taking my leave then.” With one final glare at Danny, he went intangible and flew off before he could face any consequences from Vlad.

With Skulker gone, Danny turned back to Vlad and scowled at him. He was starting to figure out what was going on but he still wouldn’t say anything until he was sure.

“I’m sure you’re very confused right now, Daniel,” Vlad said smoothly, walking toward him. “Which isn’t a surprise considering you’re what? Fourteen?” He circled Danny as he talked. “I sent those ghosts, and others, to test your father’s skills. Imagine my surprise when I find you! The second ghost hybrid his foolishness created.”

Well, there it was. The confirmation to Danny's suspicion. He watched as Vlad transformed into the very ghost he fought last night. “Clockwork told me there was one other person like me.” Danny growled.

“Careful, Daniel,” Vlad smirked. “You wouldn’t want your parents hearing you speak such a forbidden language, would you?”

“Let me go.” Danny insisted.

“Why?” Vlad argued. “So you can go back to living in a world where you know, in your heart, you don’t belong to? You don’t need them. I have experience, my child. Clockwork has sheltered you. I could train you, teach you everything I know, and all you’d have to do is one simple thing. Renounce your idiot father. Which, of course, shouldn't be difficult, considering what he did to you. To us.”

This guy couldn’t be serious. Danny actually couldn’t believe what he was hearing. All these years… all these years knowing there was someone out there just like him. Someone who should know exactly what he was going through, Danny often fantasized of finally meeting this person. But now that he has, all he felt was sad, disappointed... Betrayed. “No.”

Vlad tilted his head. “No?”

“No,” Danny repeated, frustrated tears stinging the corners of his eyes. “I’ve known for years there was someone out there just like me and all I’ve ever wanted was to meet them. But now, finally meeting you, and learning the type of person you are, there is no way I’ll join you. I don’t particularly like my father, but I like your motives even less.”

For a moment, Danny could see hurt cross Vlad’s face, but as fast as it appeared it vanished. “Okay, Daniel. If you say so.” Danny watched as Vlad disappeared from sight in one fluid motion.

Once Vlad vanished, Danny tried his best to escape the containment he was trapped in. Not only was it seriously messing with his claustrophobia but not being able to use his powers for the first time in his life was really making him begin to panic. The minutes he was stuck there dragged even if one minute only turned to two. His ghost sense went off again and Danny steeled himself for whatever attack came next.

“Well gosh and golly it looks like you could use a speck of help there, dontcha know?”

But that he was not expecting. Floating before him was the Dairy King, the same one from the portrait at the entrance of the castle. “Uh, yeah…” Danny said. So, the Dairy King did just that, reaching forward and pressing the release button on the box. Danny smiled and kicked it away. “Thank you.”

“Take it from a king, everyone needs help sometime, dontcha know.”

Yes, this Danny knew, and he wanted to ask for help against Vlad, but he could tell this ghost wasn’t a fighter. So, he said, “I really appreciate it but I need to get going now. Nice to meet you!”

As Danny transformed and raced out of the room the Dairy King called after him, “You too, kiddo! Try the gouda, it’s dairy fresh!”

Danny raced to the party room and upon seeing his father hovering two feet off the ground, went intangible and pushed Vlad out of him. They tumbled through the wall to the library on the other side. “Daniel, stop,” Vlad said. “Think about the things I could show you, the doors I could open for you. You, Danny Phantom, and I, Vlad Plasmius.” He clenched a fist. “Together we could rule.”

Danny frowned. “But why?” He asked. “Why do you crave power so bad? Why can’t we just be friends? Why do we have to hurt people?”

Vlad faltered at that. His expression dropped and for a moment, a sadness of his own crossed his eyes. But before he could even respond, the honking of a horn caught both of their attentions and they watched as the Fenton RV crashed through the wall. Danny looked back at Vlad and saw him scowling again. Hatred. Danny realized. It was Vlad’s hatred for Jack Fenton that drove his obsession. Vlad flew to the roof of the RV and pulled Maddie from her seat. “Mind if I cut in?” He said.

“Let go of me!” Maddie insisted.

But Vlad merely replied, “Never again, woman.”

As Danny pulled himself from the rubble, he watched as his father exited the vehicle to chase after Vlad. Danny took the chance to turn invisible and try to work the weapons in the RV himself. He knew he couldn't defeat Vlad on his own and this was his best bet. He figured out how to drive it and aligned the vehicle with Vlad, nearly running over his frantic father in the process.

Danny wished he didn’t have to do this. He didn’t want to. From above, holding Maddie by the ankle, Vlad smirked at him. Well, he'd tried, but Vlad didn't want to listen. So, Danny took hold of the controls and fired the weapon. The first two did not hit but the third one did the trick. As Vlad got pushed away, he let go of Maddie. Quick as a whip, Danny raced to overshadow his father and catch his mother before she hit the ground.

“Jack! You did it!” Maddie exclaimed.

Danny set her down and pointed her to Harriet before running over to Vlad, and lifting him up. “Must it really be like this?” Danny asked.

“As long as Jack draws breath, it must,” Vlad growled.

Danny sighed. “Okay, then. Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to call a truce.”

“And why would I agree to that?” Vlad scoffed.

“Because,” Danny replied. “If you don’t, I’ll walk out of my father right now and expose both of us as ghosts. I’ve lived without my family for ten years, so I can do it again.” He didn’t think about how much he’d miss his sister. “I don’t need to stay with them to protect the humans. But, I know how much you care about my mom, and what would she think if she learned you’re a ghost?”

For a moment, Vlad recoiled, but he quickly recollected himself and smiled. “Using your opponent’s weakness against him? I am teaching you something after all. Very well, truce. Eventually you will join me by choice, once you see that humans aren’t everything you hold them up to be. But for now,” he cleared his throat and prepared to make a show. “Curse you, Jack Fenton! Your world-renowned expertise of all things ghosts has defeated me! Until next time...” Then Vlad disappeared in theatrical fashion.

Danny left his father and flew off to his room.

The moment Danny hit the floor, he dropped to his hands and knees, the purple hood of his ghostly attire blocking his peripherals. Ice blossomed from his hands and spread rapidly across the room. His mind ran a mile a minute and all he wanted to do was run, or rather fly, away. Far away from everything to where it was safe, where it was comfortable. Danny lifted his head and looked around. He needed to pack. He needed to leave this castle. He did just that, and waited until the last possible second before returning to his human form. Danny slung his bag over his shoulder and exited his room. He ran into Jazz as he did, and quickly reached behind him and shut the door before she could see the thin but visible layer of ice covering everything inside.

“Danny?” Jazz said, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“It’s time to leave.”

“Time to…”

“L-E-A-V-E.”

Jazz grimaced. “I already went to pack when I saw them drive the RV inside. I guess you saw that, too.” Danny finally noticed that she too had her bags slung over her shoulder. She slung her free arm around him. “Let’s go home.”

Danny didn’t have time to change out of that awful suit before they left but he did remove the coat and replaced his blue hoodie, pulling the hood up. As they drove, he sat with his legs pulled to his chest, staring down at his tie, the one Vlad had helped him with.

Danny now knew why Clockwork never told him who the other halfa was. Still, he wished Clockwork would’ve at least warned him. But on the other hand, maybe it was better he hadn’t. Danny buried his head in his knees.

So much for finding someone he could relate to.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes:

Part 2: An Unknown Known World. End.

Look how far we've come! I can't believe we're already at the end of part 2! I hope you have a marvelous day/night!

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #vlad plasmius #vlad masters #jazz fenton #jack fenton #harriet chin #maddie fenton #claustrophobia #anxiety #anxiety attack #panic attack #lost time #renegade writes

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An Early Start - Chapter 15 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 15:

One sunny Sunday morning Danny woke up to a soft knock on his door. He reached over and loudly knocked twice on his nightstand, a system Jazz and he came up with early on, and Jazz opened his door. “I made breakfast. Come eat before it gets cold.” Danny pulled his blanket from over his head to nod at her and she closed his door.

It’s been a while since the two of them have hung out, so Danny got dressed and greeted Jazz in the kitchen, and she said, “How would you feel about having a sibling day today? Just the two of us, hanging out.”

Danny pulled out a chair and took a seat. A day with his sister sounded nice. He’s been so busy lately that he hasn’t had time to just slow down and enjoy the little things. He smiled at her and nodded.

“Good,” Jazz said while she plated breakfast. Danny went to grab an empty plate of his own but Jazz set the plate she just filled in front of him. “Orange juice?” She offered. Danny nodded and thanked her. He was used to this sort of behavior from her. Even after all this time it was still ingrained in her to take care of him, and even if Danny didn’t need her to anymore, he still truly appreciated it nonetheless. “So,” she took a seat and finally began to plate her own food. “I was thinking we could go to the park today. I could bring the chess board and I heard there’d be good winds today, so we could bring a kite!”

Danny paused around the eggs he was chewing and set his fork down. “What’s a K-I-G-H-T?” It’s only been around two months since Danny’s return but he could say simple things in sign language that Jazz would understand. She was still learning but far better than their parents, whose obsession with ghost hunting, which has gotten worse ever since they finally got concrete evidence of ghostly existence, outweighed their concern to learn the one way their long-missing son could communicate.

“It’s spelled K-I-T-E.” Jazz gently corrected, then smiled wistfully. “I’ve always thought they were magical. Kite’s are these… contraptions, I suppose, in the shape of a rhombus, made up of synthetic material with a string attached at the end.” Her face twisted in thought. “Wow, I never realized how difficult it is to explain a kite.” She shook herself off. “A rhombus is the standard shape but I’ve seen really cool ones that can look like dragons… or polygons, or anything you can think of really. Their function is to catch a breeze and you hold on to the string as it flies in the air. I’ve always found them whimsical.”

No matter how hard he tried, Danny still could not picture a kite. But Jazz seemed to be excited about it so he was excited about it, too. So, he smiled and said, “Sounds fun.” In return Jazz made that face she made when Danny used a sign she still did not know. He awaited her question.

“What does this sign mean?” She brought two fingers down her face and tapped the back of two fingers on her other hand.

“F-U-N.” Danny fingerspelled. He watched as Jazz dutifully pulled out a small notebook of her own, much like the one Danny carried, and wrote the sign down to practice later. Danny appreciated that about her, how dedicated she was to communicating with him better.

When they arrived at the park half an hour later, Danny watched Jazz pull a mess of fabric, sticks, and a ball of string from the trunk of her car. He stood to the side holding the chess set and picnic blanket, and wondered how something like that would fly. But, Jazz seemed confident, especially later, when they got to the top of a hill and Jazz had to set down the kite to put her hair up, since the wind kept whipping it around. Danny set on a search for four rocks to keep their blanket from flying around while Jazz set up and by the time he returned, he understood why his sister was so fascinated with these things. Her kite was one of those polygons she described in a mess of vibrant colors. She saw the look on his face and said, “Cool, right?” Danny nodded. “Now, all we have to do is hold on to the string and run until the wind catches it, and it’ll soar into the air. Would you like to do the honors?”

“Me?”

Jazz laughed. “Yeah, you, little brother. Who else?”

So, Danny reached forward, took the kite string, and began to run with it while Jazz cheered. It wasn’t long before the wind picked it up and as it sailed into the sky, a spark of whimsy of his own blossomed, and he found himself once again utterly fascinated with humans; they made this device for the sole purpose of its beauty. As he sat down next to Jazz, and watched the kite flap in the wind, he wondered if Clockwork knew of the existence of these contraptions.

Not long after, Jazz drove a stake into the ground to keep their kite in place, and they began a game of chess. Early on in his return, Jazz asked if he wanted to play, and grew excited when she learned he knew how to play too. Over the weeks they played many games together and each lost as much as they won. At one point Jazz told Danny she’s never had another chess player who challenged her like he did, and it made it more fun. For his part, Danny had to be good, he had to be when playing against Clockwork. Though, in his whole life, he’s only beaten Clockwork three times. To this day Danny suspects those three times were because Clockwork let him win. So, the two siblings lapsed into a comfortable silence as they played their game, occasionally looking up to admire the kite which was still going strong. Jazz spoke during their third game.

“So, how have you been settling in? I’ve been seeing less and less of you lately.”

Danny shrugged as he pondered his next move. “Good.”

“Sam and Tucker seem nice. Are you getting along well?”

Danny made his move and pulled out his notebook. They’re great. I’ve never had friends like them before.

Jazz digested that as she pondered her own next move. “So you’ve had friends before them?”

She got him there. Even after all this time, he still hasn’t told her a thing about the last ten years. He knew the curiosity was killing her but she was still respecting his boundaries. Danny decided to let her have something at least so he nodded, moved his piece and picked up his notebook. We’re still friends.

“Still? As in you talk to this person to this day?” He could see Jazz trying to connect the dots, the game in front of her forgotten. Despite herself she asked, “Were you with this person the whole time?” The moment she asked it she realized her mistake and backtracked. “You don’t have to answer that.”

But, this is his sister, and she’s been so patient with him, so he answered. Kind of. We became friends three years ago but we used to see each other every year. Danny sort of regretted telling her this after he saw her reaction. Jazz was curious, confused, and hurt. She had so many questions she wanted to ask and even more after she finally got one answered. Danny gasped when he saw a tear slip down her cheek.

“Sorry,” she said, quickly wiping the tear away. “Sorry, I just…”

Danny reached over and squeezed her hand, before pulling back and picking up his pen. Ask me whatever you want. But I can’t promise I’ll answer them all.

“Are you sure?” Jazz asked.

Honestly, Danny wasn’t sure, but he didn’t know if he ever would be, so he swallowed and nodded anyway.

“Okay… Okay. Then, the place you were, were you held captive?”

He wished it were a simple yes or no question because, honestly, the answer was both. He decided to tell her just that. Yes and no. The people didn’t hold me captive. The place did.

Jazz’s features faltered. “The place? What does that mean?” Danny shook his head to let her know he wasn’t going to answer that question, so she asked, “Okay… then how about the people? You said you always saw this friend once a year. What was the occasion?”

Danny began to regret letting her ask her questions because it turns out the ones she wanted to ask are the ones Danny couldn’t or wouldn’t answer. If he told her the Christmas party then she would ask about that, which would lead to questions about who he was with and eventually, who raised him. It seemed like every possibility lead back to there. The pen in his hand faltered. I’m sorry. He wrote. His heart was beating fast again and it was all he could focus on. I thought I could do this but I can’t. What was worse was the look of hurt on her face when he looked up, the way she carefully tried to hide her disappointment with concern. Danny looked resolutely back down and began to write. I physically couldn’t come home. I was trapped. I’m sorry I can’t tell you anything else, but know I didn't want to leave you. He saw a tear fall onto the page and he wondered if he was having one of those panic attacks again, because he could feel his heart and lungs more than any other part of himself right now. But, maybe not, because even though they felt bad, they still didn't feel as bad as that one time. I’m really sorry.

“Oh, Danny.” Jazz croaked and scooted around the chess board on her knees to bring him into a hug. So many things were left unsaid between them and the crushing guilt weighed down on him like a ton of bricks. He wished he could tell her so bad. Even Sam and Tucker knew and they haven’t known him nearly as long as Jazz has, which is to say since the day he was born. But, all Danny could think of was how Clockwork told him they weren’t ready, and wondered how long it would be until they were, until Jazz was. Danny was certain he’d never tell his parents; with them he feared obliteration.

Danny and Jazz ended up getting ice cream afterwards and ate it in her car. He got vanilla and she got strawberry. Despite the tears, and the knowing even less than before, there was this feeling of growing closer between them after everything was said and done.

The following Thursday their parents decided to try their own hand at hanging out. It all started one evening when Danny broke curfew.

Curfews were another human custom that Danny didn’t understand. When he was with Clockwork, he wasn’t allowed to leave on his own when he was younger. But, when he was older, Danny was allowed to go out on his own for as long as he wanted. No middle ground. Curfews were a weird in between thing where your parents trusted you and didn’t at the same time, it seemed, and Danny was bad at keeping his.

Tonight, however, he was on track to making it home on time for once. As he walked down his street, three minutes till ten, he kept his hands stuffed in his pockets and watched the sky, trying to see the stars over the light pollution of the town. He saw three ghosts instead.

Well, so much for being on time. He hid behind a car and transformed, then flew up to meet the three vulture ghosts above. “Hello,” he waved. “Can I help you?”

“Mind your own business, fancy-pants ghost boy.” One of the vultures barked and the three of them flew down into a passing bus. Danny followed.

“We’ve been circling this town for hours, we could’ve been halfway to Florida by now, ask for directions!” The second vulture demanded.

“I know where I’m going!” The first insisted.

“You so do not ask him!” The third said.

These vultures were annoying and Danny felt himself growing more and more irritated the more they spoke. “Ask me what?” He demanded, but the vultures seemed hell bent on getting on his nerves because rather than reply, they exited the bus. Danny followed again. Luckily, following finally worked, and they gave in.

The first vulture sighed, resigned, and flew toward him. “We are on a search and destroy mission. Can you help us find and peck to death, this guy here?” Danny watched with dawning horror as the vulture pulled out a torn photo of what was clearly a younger version of Jack Fenton.

Okay, then. Lying it is. “You know, I have seen that guy actually. You guys are dumb out of luck though, I saw him get on a bus to Florida this morning.”

“See!” The second vulture yelled. “What did I say? Halfway to Florida!”

The first vulture groaned. “Fine, fine. Thanks anyway, kid. Let’s go boys!”

Danny watched the three vultures fly off. The torn photo fell away from them and Danny caught it, and wondered why they wanted his father dead. Honestly, Danny thought as he flew back home, he could think of a few reasons. He made it back home but opened the front door the moment the clock struck ten. His parents stood on the other side, hands on their hips. “Cutting it close, young man.” His mother said. Danny looked between the two of them then to Jazz, who was sitting on the couch, looking annoyed at their parents’ attempt at authority.

“Sorry,” Danny said, closing the door. It was one of four signs his parents actually bothered to learn. The other three were: “Yes”, “No”, and “Please”.

“Darn right you’re sorry.” His mother said. “This is getting out of hand.” Danny knew this was going to turn into a lecture so he took a seat next to his sister. “Look Danny, I know you aren’t used to living with us but we’re your family, and you live under our roof again. We’ve been lenient given the circumstances, but you’ve had more than enough time to adjust by now.”

Danny crossed his arms and sunk further into the couch. Next to him, Jazz grumbled, “You say that like we’re a proper family.”

Jack, who had gone back to tinkering with a new ghost hunting device that was with them in the living room, finally poked his head out. “That’s it!” He exclaimed.

“What’s it?” Jazz asked.

“This!” Jack produced a pamphlet advertising a twenty year college reunion. “You can come with your mother and I to our college reunion! We can make it a family trip!”

Jazz gaped. “Wisconsin?!”

“Sure! My old pal, Vlad, is throwing a huge shindig there. We can take the RV so the whole family can go together!” Danny wanted to puke. Jack remained oblivious. “Plenty of time to connect as a family, and I can blather on about ghosts!” The new ghost hunting device malfunctioned and sprayed ectoplasm all over Jazz. “Ha! It works! I can blather on about that, too!”

Danny waited in Jazz’s room while she took a shower to get all of the ectoplasm off herself. When she returned, she was wearing her pajamas and had a towel in her hair.

“Sorry.” Danny said.

Jazz shook her head. “It’s not your fault, Danny. They are who they are.”

“Yeah, but,” he paused, then pulled out his notebook. If I managed my time better, this wouldn’t have happened.

Jazz took a seat next to him and removed the towel, drying her hair as she read it. “It’s my fault,” she said. “They were probably just going to ground you. If I hadn’t made that comment, dad never would’ve gotten the idea to invite us, and we could’ve had the house to ourselves for once, free of ghost crazed parents experimenting in the basement for a weekend.”

How about agree to disagree.

Jazz smiled. “How about we’re both at fault.”

Danny smiled too. Deal.

They left for their trip the next day after school and the moment they were in the RV, Danny regretted it immediately. It was too small in here. Did the windows even open? How long were they going to be stuck in here for? Next to him, Jazz seemed to notice his rising panic because she grabbed his hand.

“Small space?” She whispered. Danny nodded. “I’ll see if I can figure out how to open a window.”

In the meantime, Danny pulled his hood over his head and his sleeves over his hands. He could feel the way ice coated the blue fabric and he wondered why he never lost control of his power this often in the Ghost Zone. As he watched Jazz ask their mother which button controlled the windows, it occurred to Danny that he never used to lose control this much because he’s never been distressed as often as he has been lately. Jazz figured out how to open the back window, and Danny stuck his head out and took a deep breath, the way Tucker and Sam taught him.

“Better?” Jazz asked. Danny nodded again. “This sucks.”

That, Danny could wholeheartedly agree with. Danny kept his head out of the window for the next few hours but when he noticed that Jazz started to get cold, he came back inside and shut the window, and tried to find something else to pass the time. It turns out Jazz brought the chess board so they set it up on their laps between them, and played that for the next few hours.

Eventually, they did stop, and Danny was the very first one out of the vehicle. As his shoes hit the concrete, he took a deep breath. The rest stop smelled of fried food, garbage, and gasoline but he couldn’t care less. Fresh air was fresh air. “Ten minutes and we’re back on the road!” His father called. Jazz stepped out of the RV next to him.

“Cherish it while you can, little brother.”

Apparently, Danny didn’t cherish it enough, because he could feel his own racing heart again not ten minutes after getting back on the road. Danny resolved to shrinking into his hoodie and closing his eyes. He missed the Ghost Zone. He really, really missed the Ghost Zone, especially during times like this. But, for however bad it was now, it was worse later that evening, when all four of them squeezed in the back to sleep for the night. It was too small, too crowded, too warm. Too much. Danny decided he hated road trips.

Danny waited for his family to fall asleep before fazing through the floor of the RV and flying to the roof. He turned into a ghost during that time, and remained invisible as he stretched across the roof and stared at the stars, a nice reprieve from the events of the day. He didn’t need to sleep as a ghost so he contented himself with staying there all night, mentally preparing himself for the remaining trip tomorrow.

The following morning consisted of lots of yawns, coffee, and cracking backs. Danny waited until the last possible moment before having to reenter the RV. During the rest of the trip he shrunk back into his hoodie, closed his eyes again, and listened to whatever Jazz was talking to his about.

But, they finally did arrive, and what a sight it was to behold. “Wow.” Jazz said. Next to her, Danny nodded.

The only other structure Danny has seen as big as this castle is, coincidentally, another castle, belonging to the dragon prince, Aragon. The siblings stepped out of the vehicle with their parents and followed them to the front door to meet the awaiting Vlad Masters. Danny had listened to his father talk about him the previous night but as Danny laid eyes on the man, something about him didn’t sit quite right. But Danny wouldn’t judge too quickly. After all, one could argue that something wasn’t quite right with him. Well… maybe he wasn’t the best example.

As they reached the steps, Vlad greeted them with an easy smile and a sickly sweet voice. “Jack,” he said. “And Maddie! You’ve never looked lovelier, my dear.” He placed a hand on Maddie’s shoulder and gestured the lot of them inside. “Please, please come in.”

Danny noticed the way Vlad closed the door on his father before he could make it inside with the rest of them. But, it must've been a mistake, so Danny paid no mind as looked around the castle.

Definitely… an odd design choice. Jazz thought so too apparently because she actually voiced this thought. “What’s with the green and gold? You’re a billionaire! Surely you could afford an interior designer.”

“I am, as one would say, ‘quite the fan’ of the Packers you see.” Vlad explained. He set a heavy hand on Danny’s shoulder and asked, “Tell me, my boy, are you a fan of football too?”

Danny looked up at this unsettling man but before he could even think of how he was going to respond to that, his mother said offhandedly, “Oh, he doesn’t talk.”

“Can’t talk.” Jazz corrected. “He has no choice.”

“Yes, Jasmine,” Maddie replied in a pinched tone. “That’s what I meant.” A moment of tension rose between the two them, something that happened a lot actually, and it always made Danny feel uncomfortable, but it was just how his mother and sister were to each other. Maddie glanced to Vlad and smiled apologetically. “I, uh, better let Jack in.”

Danny decided to explore while she did that. Besides all the Packers paraphernalia, there was nothing to suggest anything odd about Vlad, so Danny didn’t know why he still had such a weird feeling. But, as Vlad showed them to their rooms, Danny added “flirts with mom and has no patience for dad” to his list of weird things. Well, the second part of that list is a maybe. He knew a lot of people who had no patience for his father, mainly everyone who's ever met him, besides Maddie Fenton.

His parents were shown their room first, followed by Jazz, which left Danny alone with Vlad. Danny jumped when that heavy hand landed on his shoulder again. “Are you okay, Daniel?” Vlad asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Danny quickly glanced to the hand on his shoulder before glancing up at Vlad and nodding. He desperately wished he could pinpoint why this man felt so off. But his nodding seemed to appease Vlad, Danny wondered if he even actually cared, and he guided Danny to his room. “Take all the time you need,” Vlad said. “Lunch will be in an hour.”

Vlad left the room, closing the door behind him with a resounding echo, leaving Danny blissfully alone.

Danny skipped lunch and spent the afternoon exploring, eventually settling down with a book on a concrete bench in the garden outside, enjoying the breeze. He loathed the thought of the trip back home in that cramped RV and tried to put it out of his mind as he enjoyed the outside. He looked around the garden. It was as big as a football field and filled to the brim with exotic foliage. It was beautiful, peaceful.

“Enjoying the garden?”

Danny jumped and spun around, finding Vlad standing behind him. For a moment Danny just studied him. In most regards, he just seemed like a polite, wealthy man. Maybe Danny was worried about nothing. After all, he’s misjudged humans in the past. So, he decided to add a smile when he nodded. Vlad moved to take a seat next to him.

“It is beautiful, isn’t it?" Vlad hummed. "I didn’t see you at lunch, are you feeling unwell?”

The concern in his voice sounded real, Danny thought. He went to reach for his notebook because Vlad asked one of those questions where shaking his head could be interpreted both ways. I’m fine. He wrote. I just wasn’t really hungry.

“Well,” Vlad said, adjusting his coat. “I do hope to see you at dinner.” A lapse of silence fell between them and Danny wondered why the man hadn’t gotten up and left yet, since there was nothing more to say. But apparently, such was not the case for Vlad. He seemed hesitant before he spoke. “You know, Daniel, I have to admit something.” He cleared his throat and clasped his hands in his lap. “I… am aware of your recent return to civilization. I read all about your return when it first happened and I do find myself… curious, I guess you could say. I wonder, because none of the reports said what happened, well, how exactly did you disappear?”

Danny felt his blood run cold. Maybe he doubted himself too early because such a question from a complete stranger definitely fell under unsettling. He licked his lips as he put pen to paper, trying to stall his response. I’m sorry, Mr. Masters, but I don’t remember anything.

The statement left a heavy, suffocating silence in the air. Danny refused to look up but he could feel Vlad’s eyes boring into him, an unspoken statement hanging between them saying, “I don’t believe you”. The ice in his veins threatened to escape and Danny pressed his palms firmly against his knees, holding his breath and willing himself to keep control. Each second felt like an hour and Danny couldn’t tell how much time passed before Vlad spoke again. “Forgive me,” he said, standing up. “That was very impolite of me. I swear, one day my curiosity will be the death of me. Dinner will be at eight o’clock. I’ll leave you to your thoughts.” The world did not move again until Vlad was gone, and his presence freed its claws from Danny’s space.

Danny went to dinner that night, if only out of obligation.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: I'm back! Thank you for your patience! That was a much needed break but now I am back and better than ever! (Hopefully lol)

Thank you so, so much for you support/continued support and I hope you have a marvelous day/night! :D

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #jazz fenton #maddie fenton #jack fenton #vlad masters #claustrophobia #anxiety #anxiety attack #lost time #renegade writes

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spectacled-renegade-writes · 8 months

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An Early Start - Chapter 14 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 14:

Sometimes, Danny didn’t understand why humans do the things they do. Like Dash for instance. For the life of him, Danny could not figure out why he hurt innocent people. In the Ghost Zone, if a ghost hurt another ghost, they always had some kind of reason for it, even if that reason only made sense to them. But Dash, he was another anomaly of the human world, and he confused Danny to no end. More and more frequently, he would show up right behind Danny to knock books from his hands and shove him in a locker. If Sam and Tucker made the human world easier, then Dash balanced it out with how difficult he made it, and a racing heartbeat was becoming yet another awful feeling Danny was becoming more and more acquainted with.

One day, that awful feeling became too much, and despite telling himself he would follow the human’s stupid stringent rules, after yet another incident with Dash, he'd had enough. Trapped inside his tiny locker with only his racing thoughts, the hallway too crowded to simply faze out of it, he’d reached his limit, and decided to skip class. So, Danny fazed through the ceiling and out of the school, up into the sky high, high away from any closed quarters. Up here, he could breathe. Up here, he was free.

As Danny glided through the air, feeling the wind on his face, and basking in the open sky, he was oblivious to the incident happening down below. But he'd soon find out after school.

The first thing Sam and Tucker said when they saw him again was, “Where were you?!”

Danny stumbled back.

“There was this stupid Box Ghost and you weren’t here to stop him," Sam yelled. "So he completely ruined my speech on alternatives to dissecting live frogs! Which, by the way, you promised to help out with. You were here earlier, where’d you go?”

Right. Danny had completely forgotten about that promise. He'd made it the other day while they hung out at the Nasty Burger, but when he was in his locker, that awful feeling of confinement had been so strong that everything else in his mind fizzled into static. Guilt weighed heavily on his shoulders and it added to the remaining feelings of confinement he had. He took another step back and didn’t notice how his hand shook as he raised it to say, “I’m sorry.”

Sam noticed at least, and her anger seemed to drain away. “Hey, are you okay?” She reached forward but Danny took yet another step back. He truly hadn’t meant to, but all he wanted right now was space. He craved it. Sam pulled her hand back. “Hey, I’m sorry for yelling. That wasn’t cool of me.”

It only seemed to make the guilt weigh heavier on Danny and he didn’t know what to do. Of course he’s been upset in his life, and scared, but what he felt now was something completely foreign to him and he didn’t know how to handle it, nor how to stop it. But, he had to let Sam know this wasn’t her fault. So, despite the crawling in his skin, he took two steps forward. “It’s… not you. I don’t…” Danny felt nauseous. “I don’t know what I’m feeling right now?”

Sam and Tucker exchanged concerned glances before looking back at Danny. “I think you’re having a panic attack, man.” Tucker said.

A panic attack? Danny has never heard of that before. What did that mean? Is this another human thing he didn’t know about? He lifted his hood over his head. He wanted to be alone. He missed the sky. He missed the Ghost Zone. He wanted to go home.

“Hey,” Sam said gently. “Let’s go outside. It’s too stuffy in here, anyway.”

So, Danny let his friends lead him outside. Their hands hovered behind his back as they lead him, but they didn’t touch him. The three of them made their way through the football field and to the empty bleachers, and Sam and Tucker sat on either side of Danny as he tried to get ahold of himself. He… really didn’t know how, and he hated that he could feel his heart and lungs. He never had to worry about that before as a ghost. Next to him, Sam spoke up. “Try to take slow, deep breaths, okay Danny?”

Slow, deep breaths? But that only made it worse. Slow, deep breaths meant he could feel every part of his constricting lungs. He pulled his sleeves over his hands and shook his head.

“Sam’s right,” said Tucker. “Slow, deep breaths will help you calm down and make your breathing go back to normal, which will make you feel better.”

It’s been a couple of weeks now since they found out his secret and they still haven’t told anyone, so Danny trusted them implicitly. So, he tried, and began to breathe as instructed. It did not help at first, and in fact made him feel worse, but as he kept going, it turns out they were right, and he began to feel better. Once again Danny felt baffled at human function. After a few minutes of silence, Sam slowly leaned over into his field of vision and asked, “Better?”

Danny nodded.

“You wanna talk about it?” Tucker asked. Danny shrugged. “Well, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but we’re here if you do.”

Danny took a moment to himself and scanned the big, empty football field. He found himself wanting to lay in the middle of it and stare up at the sky. So, he did. His friends watched him get up from the bleachers, walk across the field, and do exactly that, stretching out his arms at his sides as his back hit the ground. Moments later, they followed suit. They spread their arms out like Danny did, giving him half a foot of space between their hands and cloud gazed, basking in the peaceful silence that followed. It was nice.

Later that night, on the roof of his house, with snacks and homework spread out around them, Danny told them why he disappeared earlier that day, and in return his friends explained what a panic attack was and how they worked. Danny told them that as a ghost he didn’t have a heartbeat and didn’t need to breathe, so that’s probably why he’s never experienced one before, even during rare moments of extreme distress.

“Well, you’re human now,” Sam said gently. “So if you ever start to feel like that again, you come to us.”

“Yeah,” Tucker said. “We’ve got your back.”

Danny smiled softly. “Even though Jazz was always kind to me, I didn’t know other humans could be so nice too."

“Well,” Tucker chirped. “You’re stuck with us, so get used to it.”

The next day Mr. Lancer caught Danny at the entrance of the school. “Mr. Fenton,” he said. “Since you were inexplicably absent yesterday, I was unable to inform you that you have been assigned a new locker.” Mr. Lancer handed Danny a slip of paper with a new locker number and combination. “An isolated incident resulted in the destruction of your old one. I hope to see you in class today.” With that, he walked off. Danny turned to look at his friends, who appeared next to him.

“That’s rough, buddy.” Tucker said. “What’s your new locker?”

Danny looked down at the paper, which read ‘Locker 724’, and showed it to his friends. They both paled.

“No. Way.” Tucker said. “Dude, that locker’s like, totally cursed!”

Danny raised an eyebrow.

“He’s right!” Sam agreed, crossing her arms and nodding. “You’ve never heard the legend, have you?”

When Danny shrugged, Tucker began to explain. “That locker used to belong to a Sidney Poindexter back in the fifties. Poindexter was the victim of more cruel pranks than anyone in the history of Casper High School! Apparently picking on him was a graduation requirement. He got stuffed into his locker so many times, it’s believed his spirit still inhabits it to this very day.” For effect, Tucker ended his explanation with an ominous tone.

Danny looked down at the paper, back at his friends, processed it for a moment, and couldn’t believe his luck! With excitement in his eyes, he strode right in to the school. Sam and Tucker chased after him. “Danny, wait up!”

When they caught up with him, Tucker said, “You heard the part about curse, right?”

“Or the part about haunted?” Sam added.

Danny only smiled and nodded at the both of them as he kept going, and didn’t stop until he found his new locker. When Danny went to put in the combination, Sam grabbed his wrist to stop him and asked, “Danny, are you crazy?”

Danny merely turned his arm intangible to escape and explained, “You don’t understand, Sidney is my friend.” He couldn't help the way he smiled.

“What?!” They both exclaimed.

Danny nodded. “I’ll explain later but it’s been a while since I’ve seen him, so if his spirit really is attached to this locker, it’ll be nice to catch up.”

“You, Danny Fenton, have the craziest life I’ve ever heard.” Tucker said.

Danny could only smile more as he turned and opened the locker. The moment the door swung open, a cold mist of air hit the three of them. The outside of the locker was completely rusted over and the inside turned out to be just the same. Its only contents were cobwebs and a single, old mirror hanging in the back. Before Danny could explore any further though, Dash showed up and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. “Hey, Eggs Fenedict, looks like you’re my new locker neighbor. Consider this a welcome wagon!” And, once again, Dash stuffed Danny into his locker and slammed the door. Sam was quick to unlock it and let him out.

“Man,” Tucker said. “Imagine if he was the first human you ever met. You’d never leave the Ghost Zone.”

“How does a human know about the Ghost Zone?”

Tucker and Sam startled but Danny smiled. His friends got to hear, for the second time, Danny speak the language he referred to as 'Ghost Speak' as he said, "I told them." Despite hearing it, his friends didn’t have a shadow of a chance at understanding. Sidney though, spoke English, so they understood him.

“Danny, my buddy-o-pal!” Sidney exclaimed. “I heard you left the Ghost Zone! This is where you’ve been all this time?”

Danny nodded. “A permanent portal opened,” he explained. “So Clockwork sent me to protect the humans.” He chewed his lip. “…It’s definitely been an… enlightening experience.”

Sidney nodded solemnly. “But one only a halfa can do.”

“Yeah…”

The bell rang and Danny turned to his human friends. “Get to class,” Sidney said. “We’ll catch up later.”

Later apparently meant after school because Danny did not see Sidney again the next time he went to his locker. When after school did roll around, Danny told his friends he’d see them later, then flew to the roof of the school where Sidney was already waiting, standing at the edge and watching the students file out. “I watched you guys today,” Sidney said. “Your friends seem nice. I didn’t know humans could be that way.”

Danny glided over to stand next to Sidney and watched the students filing out too. It felt nice, normal, hanging out with Sidney again. Not to mention getting to be Phantom was always a welcome shift. “I kind of knew it,” Danny said. “But I didn’t know strangers could be like that too, which is what they were at first. Sam invited me to lunch with Tucker on my first day and it all blossomed from there. They’re… definitely odd humans.”

Poindexter smirked. “Like you.”

“Not quite like me but… yeah.” Danny agreed.

A companionable silence fell between them as they watched the people below live their lives. It struck Danny that this was the first time since he’s arrived that he’s felt dead again rather than alive. He wondered if it was okay to prefer this. But he couldn't help it, being dead was peaceful. However, he already knew he'd never tell his friends that, and especially not Jazz.

“I saw a lot of bullies today.” Sidney spoke up. “I put a stop to it when I could.”

Danny hummed. “That’s fine, I think. As long as you don’t hurt them.”

“But what if they hurt someone first?” Sidney argued, but he hadn’t raised his voice.

“Then…” Danny mulled that over. “I’ll take care of it, or there are other ways besides hurting someone to show them the consequences of their actions."

“I guess so…” Sidney relented.

Danny glanced down at the pocket watch hanging from his belt, a Christmas gift from Clockwork when he was eight, and thought of his mission. “Just, promise you won’t let it get out of hand. Okay?” Danny could see the conflict in Sidney’s eyes as he struggled to digest this information. “If you don’t know what too far is, I’ll let you know if it happens. Deal?”

Sidney seemed satisfied with that. “Deal.”

“So the school is just going to be haunted by a vengeful ghost now?” Tucker asked later that day at the Nasty Burger.

“He’s not vengeful,” Danny replied. “Not all ghosts are evil.”

“All the ones we’ve met besides you have been,” Tucker grumbled.

Sam softly hit him upside the head. “The actions of a few don’t reflect the intentions of the many. If Danny says he cool, then he’s cool.”

“Fine, fine.” Tucker pushed her away. “What can you tell us about him?”

“A lot actually,” Danny answered. “I’ve told you about the annual Christmas truce, right?” Sam and Tucker shook their heads. “It’s a tradition all ghosts uphold. It’s where I met Sidney a few years ago.” So, Danny explained the Christmas truce to his friends, much to their fascination, then told them the story of how he and Sidney became friends. “It was the first Christmas I’ve ever enjoyed." Danny explained. “I guess you could say it put the H-O-L-L-Y in H-O-L-L-Y J-O-L-L-Y."

Sam snorted at that. “You’re such a dork.”

“Takes one to know one.” Tucker countered.

Danny smiled as he watched them proceed to have friendly yet passionate argument about who's the bigger dork. He sat back and sipped his milkshake.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Sorry for the late chapter! Also sorry that the quality of this chapter isn't up to par. I really tried my best.

I've been pretty burnt out from editing so this will be the last chapter for the weekend and possibly Monday, since I'll be visiting my sister.

Thank you so much for your support and patience, and I hope you have a lovely day/night! <3

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #anxiety #claustrophobia #panic attack #anxiety attack #sidney poindexter #dash baxter #mr. lancer #lost time #christmas truce #renegade writes

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An Early Start - Chapter 13 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 13:

Danny was certain Tucker and Sam were angry with him by the time detention rolled around. Once he’d returned to school and went back to class, his friends barely looked at him the rest of the day, and he caught them on more than one occasion whispering to each other while staring at him. If Danny lost his friends, he honestly didn’t know if he could continue going to school. They were the only things that made the crowded, tight quarters of this place bearable.

Mr. Lancer supervised them as they cleaned. He had his arms crossed and tapped his foot as he watched. Occasionally, he’d say something like, “Mr. Foley, you missed a spot.” But besides that, he too was silent.

Danny needed to get ahold of himself. He could feel ice creeping down the handle of the mop he held. He only lost control of his ice powers like this during times of extreme distress. He closed his eyes and repeated Frostbite’s mantra he’s had in his head all these years. ‘It doesn’t control you. You control it.’

“Mr. Fenton,” Mr. Lancer said. “Is there a reason why you have stopped mopping?”

Danny opened his eyes and saw all three of them looking at him. He looked down at the mop handle. The ice was gone but he could tell it was still freezing. Danny shook his head and went back to mopping.

Danny was all too ready to go home, which was a first, once they finished. He rushed past his friends and to his locker, ready to lock himself in his room and be done for the day. He’d deal with this tomorrow. Quickly shoving textbooks, notebooks, and the now empty thermos into his backpack, Danny zipped it shut and closed his locker.

Waiting on the other side were Sam and Tucker. “Hey, man.” Tucker greeted.

Wait... what?

“Wanna go to the house?” Sam asked.

Weren’t… they mad at him? Danny looked down at his bag then back up at them. He could feel his palms coat with ice. He swallowed a deep breath and held it back, and nodded.

As the three of them walked, Danny rifled through his bag to pull out the cellphone his parents gave him and sent them a text saying he was hanging out with his friends, before throwing the phone back in. To save time, they ended up taking the bus to the edge of town and walking the last few blocks. The entire time there was a surprisingly comfortable silence between the three of them. Maybe Danny was wrong, maybe he couldn’t read humans as well as he thought, or maybe he just couldn’t read Tucker and Sam.

They arrived at the abandoned house and the first thing they did was make sure it was empty. Like always, it was, and as they made their way to the pantry, Sam pondered if maybe the other graffiti was from way long ago, and perhaps they really were the only ones who visited this house now. The three of them got chips and sodas, and spread out in the living room.

Once they were settled, and Dumpty Humpty played quietly over the radio, the odd atmosphere between Sam and Tucker returned. Danny quickly began to regret agreeing to hang out. Between the two of them, they seemed to be having some kind of silent conversation with their eyes, and it went on for a minute before they both turned to look at him.

“So…” Tucker trailed, glancing to the side. Moments later it became clear that he let the sentence die so Sam took over.

“So, Danny,” Sam said with more confidence than Tucker. “About earlier…”

“I’m sorry,” Danny interrupted after setting his soda in his lap. “About getting you guys in trouble.” Sam and Tucker exchanged yet another glance, and Danny wished they’d stop doing that. But their glance was different this time; rather than unreadable, it was clearly baffled.

“No, we weren’t even thinking about that.” Tucker said, and Danny faltered. Okay, now he was confused. Tucker grew flustered as he began to explain. “So, it’s like this, you see. After you started the food fight in the cafeteria, you just kinda ran off. So naturally, Sam and I followed.” Danny paled. “We saw you run into the kitchen and we followed you inside.”

What’s the one thing Clockwork told Danny not to do? Don’t let anyone know he’s half ghost. It hasn’t even been a month.

“We saw that ghost,” said Sam carefully. “Then we saw you… become a ghost.”

“And, like, talk. I think?” Tucker added.

Danny could feel as his whole world came crashing down on him... again. He hated that this became a familiar feeling. They weren’t supposed to know. No one was supposed to know. Not even a month in and he let Clockwork down. The soda back in his hand completely froze over. He’d only taken a sip of it so it began to overflow from pressure. He stood up and dropped it in surprise.

“Wow, Danny, it’s okay.” Sam placated, standing up too.

Danny looked frantically up at his friends… and realized they looked concerned. Tucker was standing up now, too.

“Hey man, it’s okay.” Tucker said. “It’s obviously a secret. We won’t tell anyone. Promise.”

“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “We’re your friends.”

A heartbeat was another thing Danny wasn’t quite used to yet and right now, it was beating faster than it ever has before. He looked down at the frozen soda fizzing on the floor and felt like it was a good representation of how he felt right now. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he couldn’t look at them for what he was about to say. So, he kept them closed as he raised his hands to speak. “I’m half ghost,” he explained. But, despite his fear, he had to open his eyes anyway when he heard no response. His friends stared at him, but they saw him go ghost earlier so he didn’t know why they looked so surprised now.

“Is that even possible?” Tucker asked, and Danny tilted his head.

Sam elaborated. “Tucker and I thought, well… we thought you were like, a full ghost who disguised yourself as a human.”

Despite the crushing, nauseating anxiety in his chest, Danny found himself smiling at that. “I’m half ghost, half human. So, half alive I guess.”

A beat of silence and Tucker said, “…Huh, well, how about that?”

Danny felt his insecurity return. “No one was supposed to find out. Not even my family knows.”

“Is… that where you’ve been the past ten years?” Sam asked.

Danny pondered the question. After considering it a moment, he gestured for them to follow him. So they did, and Sam and Tucker followed Danny upstairs to the room with their graffiti. Danny’s painting was still exactly how he left it and he pointed to it then said, “Home.”

Tucker blanched. “That’s your home?”

“Clockwork’s tower,” Sam whispered, then spoke up. “Clockwork. Who is he?”

Danny turned to the painting and placed a hand on it, taking a moment to himself. He missed it so much. He turned back to his friends and said, “He’s a ghost.”

“A half ghost like you?” Tucker asked.

Danny shook his head. “No. No one is like me. He’s an ancient ghost that's in charge of time. He took me in when I appeared in the G-H-O-S-T Z-O-N-E and raised me.”

“Ghost Zone?” Sam asked.

Danny sighed. This would take a lot of explaining, but he felt an uncertain knot in his chest. “How do I know I can trust you?” He asked despite himself, momentarily letting his fear win out. Honestly he truly trusted them, he really did, but he just had to make sure.

In response, Tucker held out his PDA. It showed a photo of Danny in his ghost form. Tucker hit a button and suddenly it was deleted. “Sam and I could’ve told the whole school by now. But we won’t, and we don’t want to.” Next to him, Sam agreed, looking just as serious as Tucker.

Danny swallowed down that lump and nodded. “Okay.”

The three of them sat on the floor of that old nursery and Danny told them his story, all the way from the beginning. From the accident, to Clockwork finding him, raising him. He talked about the Ghost Zone, what it was like, Clockwork’s lessons, gaining each new power, and how long it took him to make a friend. He told them everything. In a way, it was cathartic. It felt like some weight he hadn’t known about, one heavy on his shoulders, was now lifted. It felt like he could share the burden.

The first question Tucker asked when Danny finished his story was why he couldn’t talk. So, Danny explained Ghost Speak, and how he mistakenly thought he’d never leave the Ghost Zone, so he’d never need his human voice. He told Tucker that was the language he’d heard when Danny spoke to the Lunch Lady. “Ghost Speak doesn’t require vocal cords.”

“Is that why you hate small spaces?” Sam asked next. Danny stiffened but Sam rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Anyone can see it from a mile away.”

She had Danny there. He nodded. “The Ghost Zone is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s all wide open space made up of ectoplasm.”

“It’s no wonder why there are weirdly specific things you don’t know about.” Tucker suddenly realized. “You didn't get to experience them in the human world, and they probably don’t have it in the Ghost Zone.” Indeed Danny displayed some of these behaviors to Sam and Tucker, too. Like the time Tucker was trying to show Danny how to play Doomed, but Danny simply did not know how to work the computer. It turned into an entire lecture on the ins and outs of computer etiquette.

Danny smiled sheepishly and nodded, then regarded them for a moment. “You guys are… strangely relaxed about all this.”

Apparently the thought hadn't even crossed their minds because Sam shrugged and said, “I mean, we were surprised at first, and yeah, our friend being a ghost is definitely the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to us, but like, you’re our friend. You’re still Danny, so it’s cool.”

Danny smiled. Ironically, his friends finding out he was a ghost made him feel more human.

Things became easier after that, in some aspects. Soon after it wasn’t only the Lunch Lady who became more daring around him. Skulker and Technus decided to try their hand as well. As each new ghost appeared, Danny told his friends who they were.

“So, that guy wants your pelt?!” Tucker asked bewildered. “That is nasty, man.”

“Tell me about it,” Danny replied. “But I’m stronger than him so I’m not worried.”

“What was it that he called you?” Sam asked.

“H-A-L-F-A? It’s what all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone call me.” Danny explained. “There isn’t much to do in the Ghost Zone so gossip gets around quick, but I prefer to go by P-H-A-N-T-O-M.”

“Hm,” Sam hummed. “Danny Phantom. It has a nice ring to it.”

In response, Danny ducked his head with a sheepish smile and replied, “Thanks.” Some days in the human world were easier than others, but Sam and Tucker were making more and more of them bearable.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Whenever Danny talks like T-H-I-S it is because he is fingerspelling the word out. This should typically only happen once before a sign is assigned to the word/name/etc... So if you see him saying the same word in the future but he is no longer fingerspelling it, just know it is because he has assigned a specific sign for it that the others in the know understand. Thank you so much for reading and have a lovely day/night! <3

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #claustrophobia #anxiety #mr. lancer #lost time #renegade writes

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An Early Start - Chapter 12 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 12:

Sam and Tucker were anomalies indeed. On one hand, they were very different from the other humans he’s met but on the other, they are very much alike. Part of Danny thought he should stop thinking of himself as different from them, and by that he meant humans in general. After all, he was still half-human, and he'd been a human before he became a ghost. Still, he'd spent most of his life in the Ghost Zone, as a ghost, being raised by a ghost. So, his internal struggle continued.

But Sam and Tucker, they fascinated him.

Turns out their favorite hangout was the Nasty Burger. They went there nearly every day after school.

“U-L-T-R-A R-E-C-Y-C…” Danny trailed off, his fingerspelling uncertain and his expression confused. “I don’t even know how to spell that.”

Tucker laughed, “You and me both, dude.”

“What… is it exactly?” Danny asked.

“I don’t eat anything with a face.” Sam replied proudly.

Danny nodded. Fascinating indeed.

“So,” Tucker said, eating a fry. “What kind of things do you like to do for fun?”

Danny thought about it. Explore the Ghost Zone. Learn new things about the universe from Clockwork. Hang out with his ghost friends. He realized none of these things were answers he could say. So, he shrugged. “Read, I guess. Stargaze.”

“That’s it?”

“I think those things are awesome.” Sam interjected.

“Yeah, well,” Tucker said. “I guess they’re cool and all but what about the flair? What about living?”

What about dying?

“I’m just saying,” Tucker continued. “We’ve gotta show you the ropes.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “The ropes?”

“I guess Tucker’s right.” Sam said. “You’re from out of town. We need to show you what qualifies as fun in a place as boring as this.”

Danny smiled. “Lead the way.”

So, lead they did, and the place they took him was surprising. An abandoned town house at the edge of the city. It was decrepit, covered in moss and vines, and nearly falling apart. “Tucker and I found this place a few years back,” Sam explained. She gestured to the graffiti on the walls. “And it seems like we weren’t the only ones. But, no one’s ever been here at the same time as us. We come here when we’re bored.”

Danny looked around. The Ghost Zone had a few places like this, minus the graffiti. He’s never actually seen graffiti before. Is this the human word for art? He second guessed himself, maybe he remembered less than he thought.

“Cool, right?” Tucker said as Danny ran a hand over one of the art pieces. “Graffiti was never my preferred medium but Sam’s all about it. A few of these pieces are hers. They’re all upstairs though.”

Danny turned to Sam. “Show me?” So they did. They took Danny upstairs, to a room off the left, and showed him in. The room itself obviously used to be a nursery, a broken cradle and collapsed rocking chair, and the peeling, painted ceiling showed old drawings of clouds. Now, though, the room was covered in dust, cobwebs, and tetanus. Sam directed Danny to her wall.

“My stuff’s over here. It’s mostly just spiders and death, so, you know, everything goth.”

Danny examined it. She was very talented. Despite its gloominess, its attention to detail gave way to the fact that she put a lot of heart into it. He smiled and gravitated toward the ghosts in the corner, definitely unlike any ghost he’s ever seen. Sam’s ghosts were less corporeal and more wispy, translucent even. Danny recalled his own art lessons with Clockwork. He was still very young at the time and he remembered how frustrated he got that he couldn't make his hand recreate the thing he was looking at. “Patience.” Clockwork had said. “Some talents come naturally but others, they take time and practice. Not everything in existence comes easily but that does not mean we should quit. Practice and patience blossoms our proudest creations.”

Danny only realized years later that Clockwork was teaching him two lessons that day.

“Here.” Danny turned around and saw Sam offering him a spray can. “You make something.” She encouraged.

Danny looked down at the spray can then back up at both her and Tucker. Both of them had this half encouraging, half impish expressions on their faces. His hands fumbled uncertainly as he spoke, “I’ve never use those before.”

“It’s easy,” Sam said. “You just point and spray. Just make sure you have the nozzle pointed away from you.”

Danny looked to the wall then back to his friends, and chewed the inside of his cheek. “What should I make?”

“That’s the beauty of it,” Tucker declared. “You can make whatever you want!”

So, not seeing any other reason why he shouldn’t, Danny took the spray can. Sam crossed the room and opened the windows to let out the fumes. “Wait,” she said, walking back and digging through her backpack, she pulled out a bandana and handed it to Danny. “If you’re gonna work with spray paint, you should cover your face. Here, tie this around your head.”

At first Danny thought she meant his entire head, which confused him for obvious reasons, but when he saw Sam and Tucker tying bandanas of their own around their mouths and noses, it made a lot more sense. He did as instructed, and turned to find a blank space on the wall.

A clatter sounded next to Danny and he saw Tucker had dropped a crate with other spray paint colors next to him. Danny looked at the one in his hand, it was blue. He could work with that. His friends stood back and watched the magic happen as Danny began to paint.

It was surprising at first, using the spray cans, but he quickly figured it out, and inspiration struck. Sam had painted goth things, things on her mind, so Danny did just the same. His friends watched in awe as a picture of something fantastical and otherworldly came to life before them. When Danny was done, he took a step back.

“Wow.” Tucker said.

“Yeah.” Sam agreed.

Danny painted Clockwork’s tower. The home he grew up in. The home he longed for. A day hasn’t gone by since being in the human world that he hasn’t ached to return. He missed his room. He missed the weightlessness. He missed his father, the one who raised him, taught him everything he knows. He missed Clockwork.

“That is awesome, dude!” Tucker exclaimed. “It’s like medieval meets sci-fi or something. What do you call it?”

Danny weighed the pros and cons of telling them the truth but in the end, it’s not like they’d ever know. “C-L-O-C-K-W-O-R-K-S T-O-W-E-R.”

“Clockwork’s tower?” Sam asked.

Danny shrugged.

“That hardcore, man.” Tucker approved and Sam agreed. Danny felt a sort of warmth blossom in his chest. Even if they didn’t really know, it still felt nice, in a way, for his friends to approve of his home. Sam closed the windows and they showed him more of the house.

Back downstairs, Tucker led them to a pantry. “This is my favorite feature of the house,” he said. “And here’s why.” He shone a flashlight he’d procured from his bag and shone it in the dingy little closet, onto the far wall. “Now these are trade secrets,” he warned. “So you can’t tell anybody.” Danny zipped his lips in response. Tucker moved into the pantry and pressed a hand hard onto the back wall. A moment later a soft click sounded, and Tucker removed a secret panel. Behind it was a shelf filled with snacks, CDs, a radio and a first aid kit. “Secret compartment. Found it by accident.” He smiled smugly. Sam pushed past him and grabbed a bag of chips.

“No one else has found it,” she said. “So we made it into our little emergency supply storage, and restock it often.” Sam grabbed another bag of chips and threw it to Danny. “But we mostly just use it to hide snacks when we hang out.”

Danny smiled. Being in the human world was hard but Sam and Tucker, they made it easier. The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon snacking, listening to music, and chatting the day away.

When Danny came home later that evening after hanging out with Sam and Tucker, he got bombarded by his parents the moment he stepped through the threshold.

“And where were you, young man?” His mother demanded. Despite her tone of voice, she looked more frantic than angry. In fact, both of his parents looked worried. Danny didn’t understand why until Jazz appeared from the kitchen.

“Danny!” Jazz exclaimed, running toward him and hugging him tight. “Where were you? We were worried sick!” She let go but kept her hands on his shoulders. “You can’t just disappear like that.”

Ah. Disappear. Now it made sense. He’d done that ten years ago, hadn’t he? It hadn’t occurred to him that he should tell them where he was going. He never needed to tell Clockwork, Clockwork always knew he’d come home, and Danny was certain Clockwork knew where he was at all times. But Danny wasn’t with his ghost family, he was with his human one, and his human one didn’t know he’d come home. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his notebook. I’m sorry. He wrote. I didn’t know I was supposed to tell you what I was doing.

“So,” Maddie asked. “What were you doing?”

Hanging out with my new friends. Danny answered.

All three of them lit up at that, worry dissipating immediately. “Danny,” Jazz beamed. “You actually made friends!” She hugged him again and Danny felt suffocated. “I’m so proud of you!”

Danny wormed his way out of his sister’s embrace and took a step back to breathe. He loved her, as much as Clockwork, but he needed his space. Jazz seemed unaffected, she was just so happy. Danny wasn’t surprised. The past three days the last thing she said to him before splitting up for class was, “Have fun! Make some friends!” It’s his fault he hadn’t told her until now. It honestly just hadn’t crossed his mind.

“Well,” Jack said. “If you’re going to be hanging out with friends after school, we need to get you a cell phone, and teach you about ghosts!” Danny tilted his head. Jack took him by the shoulder and began to lead him to the basement. “If you’re going to be out and about, you need to learn how to protect yourself against those spectral spooks.”

“Dad!” Jazz opposed. “Danny does not need to be a part of your crazy ghost hunting ventures! He’s just a kid, not some kind of experiment, or a mentee.”

But Jack did not listen and instead took her by the shoulder as well. “Good idea, Jazz! You can both learn how to defend yourselves!” So, he led both his children to the basement, where he promptly began his ‘So, you want to be a ghost hunter’ speech. Danny and Jazz sat in chairs next to each other as Jack spoke. He introduced the Fenton Thermos, a device which captured and contained ghosts, and turned to retrieve his next weapon.

Jazz’s simmering frustration finally boiled over and she stood from her seat, and marched over to her father to give him a piece of her mind.

It was impeccable timing too because the moment she did, the ghost portal opened and two ecto-pusses exited it. Danny stared. They stared back. Jazz and Jack remained oblivious as they bickered with their backs turned. “You can’t be here,” Danny whispered, and wow. It felt so nice to speak in Ghost Speak again. He didn't mind signing, and he was fluent in it, but Ghost Speak felt more like his native language, and it was what he was most comfortable using. The ecto-pusses continued to stare. They seemed to realize they were looking at the ward of Clockwork. Danny glanced again to his sister and father, and back to them. “It’s time to go back.” The ecto-pusses gave one final glance at each other before turning to flee back into the portal. Not a moment too soon, too. The second they vanished, both Jazz and his father turned back around.

“Come on, Danny.” Jazz said, taking his hand. “Let me help you with your homework.” Danny let Jazz drag him out of the lab.

However, later that night, Danny snuck back down and stole the thermos for himself. It was only a precaution, but he knew he wouldn’t be dealing with just ghosts who would flee at the sight of “Clockwork’s ward” forever, and he’d need to use it if he couldn’t talk them down.

A ghost like that appeared the following Monday.

Danny walked in to school and met his friends by their lockers. Tucker was fuming about something and Sam seemed proud of herself. Danny zipped the book he was carrying into his backpack to free his hands before he spoke. “What’s going on?”

“Sam,” Tucker pointed an accusing finger at her. “Committed an atrocity that which mankind has never seen!”

Danny’s eyes widened and he turned to Sam. She only scoffed and said, “Oh, quit being dramatic. I only changed the lunch menu, get over it.”

“I will not,” Tucker insisted. “You took away all the meat! You can’t take away a carnivore’s meat!”

Danny’s panic quickly subsided to amusement. He still had trouble remembering to eat in the first place so what he ate didn’t really matter to him. He listened to his friends’ silly argument as he made his way to his own locker, and watched through spiteful notes passed during class, and continued to listen between classes, all the way to lunch.

As Danny held out his tray to the lunch lady, and a piece of bread with grass was dropped on it, even he had to agree with Tucker on this one. There was a lot about the human world Danny still didn’t know about but he was certain you weren’t supposed to eat grass, and judging by the looks on the other students faces, he was right. As he sat his tray down at their usual table, he looked at what was supposed to be considered food and said, “This is grass.”

“Right?!” Tucker agreed. “Grass. From the ground. Not food, Sam!”

But before Sam could argue back, Mr. Lancer appeared behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ah, Ms. Manson. The school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering in this welcome experiment to our cafeteria.”

Tucker, on the other hand, seemed distressed. He sniffed the air and said, “Meat. Near.”

Earlier, Tucker said that meat heightened your senses, and he proved it by correctly guessing what Danny had for dinner the night before. Danny had been impressed but he still wondered if what Tucker said was true or not. Tucker’s proclamation was seeming more and more plausible by the minute when Danny saw a fretful look cross Mr. Lancer’s face as he quickly said, “No, no, the rumors about the all-steak buffet in the teacher’s lounge are completely untrue.”

Danny couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Maybe he’d sneak in and steal one for Tucker. It’d be nice to step out of the dreadful cafeteria anyway, he still wasn’t used to this place... honestly he didn’t know if he ever would be.

“Thanks again,” Mr. Lancer said as he walked off.

“Yeah, thanks for making us eat garbage, Sam.” Tucker pouted.

“It’s not garbage! It’s recyclable organic matter.”

Danny narrowed his eyes and Tucker said, “It’s garbage.”

Danny didn’t have much of an appetite anyway so he passed his plate to Sam and made to stand up to put his tray away. But he didn’t even manage to stand before two things happened at the same time. One: His ghost sense went off, and two: Dash stormed over to him yelling, “Hey, ghost boy!” In Danny’s week there, the term had become an insult he heard whispered behind his back daily. He mostly found it amusing. If only they knew. But Dash, for whatever reason, decided Danny would be his new favorite victim. Apparently there was something about Danny that didn’t sit quite right with people and Dash took offense to that. Dash held up his tray and said, “I ordered three mud pies and you know what I got? Three. Mud pies. With mud. From the ground!”

Danny really didn’t have time for this, not with a ghost around, so before Dash could grab him by the shirt, he took the mud off Dash’s tray and chucked it across the room. The rest of the cafeteria excitedly followed suit and began a food fight. Dash was hit in the process and successfully lost focus of Danny. Danny used the opportunity to sneak off to the kitchen.

When he entered, he recognized the ghost inside. Danny transformed and floated over to her. “Hello,” he said.

The ghost of the Lunch Lady turned around and stiffened when she was greeted with Clockwork’s ward. “Oh, hello there, dearie.” She said in a sickly, sweet voice. “I heard rumors that you were no longer in the Ghost Zone. I’m just here because it seems… well, somebody has changed the menu. Do you know who that might be?”

Danny wasn’t stupid. He knew about her short temper and what would happen if he told her the truth. So, he lied. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m sure we can work something out.”

The Lunch Lady scowled at the “Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian” cookbook in her hands. “Today is supposed to be meatloaf, but I don’t see any meatloaf.”

“You were the lunch lady at this school?”

“That’s right, dearie,” said the Lunch Lady. “And my balanced meal plan never changed, even after I passed. Now, it has changed, and I can’t stand for that. I’m sure you understand. Would you help me fix it?”

Danny chewed his lip. There was only one way this would end. He desperately tried to find the words to create a second way. So, he tried empathy. “I… I didn’t want to leave the Ghost Zone.” He said. “But, Clockwork told me I had a mission, so I had to. It’s been a big change and a lot of it is uncomfortable, but there are things that make it bearable, and make me realize things will get easier, that it’ll be okay.” He could see the lost look on the Lunch Lady’s face, her obvious confusion with such an abrupt change of subject. Danny pressed on. “So… with that being said, maybe it’ll be okay for you, too. I know the lunch menu changing is uncomfortable but… maybe it’ll be okay? Maybe you just need time.”

For a moment, nothing happened. For a moment, the Lunch Lady just blanched. Then, quick as a whip, she snarled, and her hair turned to flames. “No!” She cried. “The menu has been the same for fifty years! It will not be changed!” With a ferocity of a lunch lady scorned, she charged at Danny. “I will change it back and if you’re the only thing standing in my way, so be it! Clockwork can’t protect you here, boy!”

Danny quickly threw up a shield and thwarted her attack. “I don’t need Clockwork to protect me!" He yelled. "I can protect myself! I don’t want to fight, but I will if I must!”

The Lunch Lady let out a howl as she charged once again. Danny knew it was dangerous to fight in such a confined space, with so many humans near, so he went intangible and flew through the ceiling, the Lunch Lady following suit. Danny raced down the hall, Lunch Lady hot on his tail. He had an arsenal of attacks at the ready but he didn’t truly want to hurt her, so he hesitated which to use. He turned another corner and found himself greeted with a group of students. He quickly b-lined toward the floor and found himself in the school's basement, surrounded by none other than boxes of meat. “Can’t we talk this out?!” He yelled.

“No!” The Lunch Lady boomed. She raised her arms and meat came flying out of the boxes and began to assemble around her, creating a meat-based armor. “I control lunch! Lunch is sacred! Lunch has rules! No one will stand in my way!” She threw her arms out and a flurry of meat came flying towards Danny. Danny quickly threw his hands out and the moment the meat made contact, it began to freeze, starting from point of contact and traveling up, eventually engulfing the meat monster completely.

“I’m sorry.” Danny said. The Lunch Lady was completely frozen in ice so Danny soared to his locker, grabbed the thermos, and returned within seconds. “Clockwork tasked me with protecting the humans. So, I had to fight you. I’m sorry it had to be this way.” Danny popped the lid off the thermos, pointed it at the Lunch Lady, and clicked the button. The Lunch Lady yelled as she was sucked inside and Danny winced. Being half-human didn't negate the fact that he was also her kind. As he touched down and returned back to human, he felt a sick feeling in his stomach. He held the thermos close to his chest.

Danny walked silently down the hallway, back to his locker. He wanted to puke. Saving a ghost from another ghost is one thing, like the time he saved Wulf from Skulker, but despite the fact that she wanted to cause harm, it felt wrong choosing one species over the other. What was worse is that… even though he would never bring harm to humans, in his heart he still preferred ghosts. But the moment Danny felt like he was going to cry was also the moment he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. He looked up to see the disappointed face of Mr. Lancer. “Mr. Fenton. My office. Now.”

Danny had no choice but to follow. The adults in this school still did not scare him as they did the others, but he was trying to follow their rules. When Danny entered the office, Sam and Tucker were there too. They stared at him in a way Danny couldn’t quite explain. He took a seat next to them upon Mr. Lancer’s request.

“Now, Mr. Fenton,” Mr. Lancer sighed, taking a seat at his desk. “I am aware you have… been through a lot, but that does not absolve you from the rules. Now, this is your first offense so I will give you a chance to explain. According to Mr. Baxter, you started the food fight in the cafeteria with your friends. Now, why would you do such a thing like that?”

Danny didn’t know what to say. He glanced to his friends but they only continued to stare back with those unreadable expressions. Well, hopefully one of them would snap out of it to translate for him. “It was the only way to get Dash away from me.” He signed. Luckily, Sam did in fact snap out of it and became his translator.

Mr. Lancer clasped his hands together on his desk and leaned back. “If another student was giving you a problem, then you should have asked for help.”

“How? I can’t speak.” Danny deadpanned. He saw the way Mr. Lancer flushed at that.

“Right, well, be that as it may, actions still have consequences. So, the three of you will stay after school and clean up the cafeteria until it’s spotless. Understood?”

His two friends groaned and Danny spoke up again, but Sam didn’t translate this time and instead said, “Danny, you don’t have to do that.”

“Come on, Sam,” said Tucker, a hint of pleading and hope in his eyes. “If that’s what the man wants to do, I say let him.”

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Mr. Lancer demanded. Danny looked pointedly at Sam and gestured to the teacher. Sam sighed.

“He said he’s the only one at fault. Tucker and I didn’t help start the fight. He started it on his own.”

“Noble,” Lancer hummed. “Admirable. But, according to Mr. Baxter, all three of you are at fault, so all three of you will receive detention.”

“But –“ Tucker tried to argue.

“No buts,” Mr. Lancer interrupted. “I will see all three of you after school and I will be calling your parents.”

Tucker slumped in his chair and mumbled, “Figures.”

Danny felt bad. He'd had to think on the spot but he should have thought of something better. Though, he just knew if he ran, Dash would’ve followed. He stared down at the thermos in his lap. He felt even worse now. Staying after school meant that much longer the Lunch Lady would be stuck in such a tiny space. Vaguely, he wondered what it was like in there. He didn’t want to find out. So, after being excused, and given hall passes back to class, which have started back up by now, Danny decided to take a detour. “I’ll meet you back in class.” Danny told his friends.

“Where are you going?” Tucker asked.

Danny looked down at the thermos, held in the crook of his elbow, then looked back up to his friends. “I need to stop by my locker.”

“We’ll come with you,” said Sam. “Beats going back to class just yet.”

Danny chewed his lip. He counted two times now that he thought of the wrong thing on the spot today. He never had to deal with stuff like this in the Ghost Zone. “It’s fine. It won’t even be that long.” He saw the way his friends glanced at each other. Saw the way their faces changed back to that indescribable look. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Did he do something wrong? Were they mad at him for getting them detention? Not knowing what he did to upset his friends was killing him but he didn’t have time to address it yet.

“Okay, Danny,” Sam said. “We’ll see you in class.” Danny watched as they walked away, remained rooted to the spot until they turned the corner. When they were gone, he stepped in to the nearest bathroom, made sure the coast was clear, and transformed, then proceeded to turn invisible and intangible, and fly home as quick as he could to release the Lunch Lady back into the Ghost Zone.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: First extra long chapter! Fun fact: The chapters where I need to do an episode rewrite are my LEAST favorite chapters to write. Even so, I hope I still did a good job for you lovely readers. There will only be a few chapters like that but they are necessary for the plot. Once again thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day/night! :D

#an early start au #danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #clockwork #jazz fenton #jack fenton #maddie fenton #lunch lady #mute!danny fenton #disabled danny fenton #anxiety #dash baxter #mr. lancer #lost time #renegade writes

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spectacled-renegade-writes · 9 months

Text

An Early Start - Chapter 11 - Danny Phantom

Ao3: Here | Masterpost: Here

Chapter 11:

A week after his return, as the media began to die down and move on to the next hot thing at the moment, his parents sat him down with Jazz at the kitchen table. “Now, Danny,” Maddie began. “Your father and I were talking and well… we were wondering how you would feel about going to school?”

Without a single moment of hesitation Danny agreed, nodding enthusiastically. It surprised all of them. Danny on the other hand couldn’t be happier. He realized during his second night here, after trying and failing to get to sleep, that he did not like being in this house, and it was even worse when Jazz wasn’t home. Two days after his return she went back to school, leaving him behind. Danny could not stand the atmosphere of the house so he tried to spend most of his days flying around the city, mapping it out in his mind. The only problem with that was keeping track of the time, since he had all those appointments, which meant a lot of the time he was just stuck here, sitting in his room, reading books Jazz lent him.

“You want to go to school?” Jazz asked.

Danny nodded again and wrote: I think it will be good. For once it seemed like he said the right thing because this time she smiled, an excited glint in her eyes.

“I was actually thinking the same thing!” She exclaimed. “I think normalcy will do you a lot of good! No better way to rejoin society than to be a normal kid.”

Danny thought the term "rejoining" society was funny. He’d never joined it in the first place. He found himself smiling from amusement at the thought but they took it as him agreeing to Jazz’s statement.

“Alrighty then, Danny-o!” Jack said. “We’ll go down to the school tomorrow and get everything squared away. You can start on Monday!”

Danny nodded.

Come Monday Danny realized his huge error. He didn’t know school was so… cramped. The hallways were narrow and filled with people, worse than the mall, and there seemed to be no place to just take a breath. The atmosphere hit him the moment he walked through the front doors. He stood there, in his new outfit, black jeans and a white t-shirt, with a baggy blue hoodie and maroon sneakers, an outfit as normal as anyone else’s, but still felt like he stood out like a sore thumb. Jazz took him by the arm and gently lead him to the office. When they arrived, Danny watched as every set of eyes fell on him. Everyone in the office was looking at him, he knew they’ve all heard of him. Jazz paid no mind as she held on to him and kept going, making their way to the principal’s office.

Inside, a professional looking woman sat behind a large desk with a nameplate reading, “Principal Ishiyama”. She greeted them warmly. “Jazz, Daniel, I’ve been expecting you. Please, take a seat.”

Danny glanced at Jazz and Jazz corrected her for him. “He goes by Danny.” She said as they both sat down.

“Danny, wonderful,” Principal Ishiyama clapped her hands together. “Well, there’s no point dillydallying, let’s get down to business. I have been informed of your situation and personally passed on that information to all of your teachers. So, all of them know not to call on you in class.” She opened a drawer and rifled through it for a moment before pulling out a small stack of papers, and passed them to Danny. “Those papers include your class schedule, locker number and combination, as well as a list of extracurricular activities we have after school, should you be interested.” Danny rifled through them as she spoke. “Oh, and the page at the bottom has the schedule of our school counselor. I know you’ve been through a lot so if you feel overwhelmed, you can see him within his hours, that is if he’s not with another student, or you can go to the school nurse.”

Danny had the feeling this woman was less of the emotional type and more of the proactive type. She opened another drawer and pulled out two pink slips of paper, and signed them both. “Here are your hall passes,” Principal Ishiyama said, passing one to each of them. “Jazz will give you a tour of the school and afterward, send you to class.” Danny glanced at his sister. She didn’t notice, to busy listening to the principal’s words. “Well,” Ishiyama said, gesturing with both hands toward the door. “Off you go then.”

Danny felt dazed as he left the office with Jazz. Everything here seemed so… structured? Constricting? Both words seemed correct. He wondered if this wouldn’t be better than the house after all. “Danny?” Jazz placed a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

Was he okay? He didn’t feel okay. He looked down the oh-so-narrow hallway then back to his sister. He nodded anyway.

“Okay, then,” she smiled gently. “Let’s start the tour.”

The tour itself took twenty minutes as she showed him each hallway and classroom. They took another ten minutes going through his exact route for the day, so it would be easier for him to memorize. Afterward, she showed him to his locker. “This is where you will store your things when you’re not using them,” Jazz explained. The function of the lockers were quite obvious but after the dressing room incident, and another similar incident with a crosswalk later on, she began explaining simple things that she thought he might not know. Danny appreciated the gesture, even if sometimes he did know what she was talking about. “Now,” Jazz said. “Putting in your locker combination is weird, so let me show you.” It took a few tries but Danny managed to get it, and he found himself wanting to understand the intricacies of the lock's weird mechanism. He wished he could ask Clockwork.

Eventually, the time came to drop him off at class. Jazz walked him to his room and stopped outside. “Okay,” she said, adjusting his coat on his shoulders. “This is it. Now, remember what I told you. When you go in, hand your hall pass to the teacher. If you have a question or comment while sitting at your desk, make sure to raise your hand first and let the teacher call on you. What else… oh, right, if you need to go to the bathroom then you have to raise your hand to ask that too, you can't just leave.” She seemed to be stalling now. They both knew there was nothing left for her to say. She reached forward and gave him a hug. “Okay, then. Be safe, have fun, and make some friends.”

Danny pretended not to see the tears in her eyes as he turned to the door. He took a deep breath and opened it. Once inside, the teacher, who had been talking, stopped when he saw Danny enter. He looked at Danny. The whole class looked at Danny. Danny could not remember a single moment in his life when he had so many eyes on him. As he walked over to the teacher he heard someone whisper, “Hey, isn’t that the ghost boy?”

“That kid who like, came back from the dead or something, it totally is!”

“I heard he was a victim of human trafficking or something.” A third person whispered.

“Whatever happened to him, he seems weird.” Said a fourth.

Danny tried his very best to ignore them and kept his eyes dead ahead as he made his way to the teacher. He reached the man, who was bald and had a gut, and dutifully handed him the pink slip of paper. “Ah, Mr. Fenton,” the teacher said. “I’ve been expecting you. I’m Mr. Lancer.” He pointed to an empty seat in the middle of the second row from the front and said, “You may take the empty seat next to Miss Manson right there, and I will bring you your paperwork.”

Danny nodded, and felt every eye on him in the dead silent room as he made his way to his seat. He kept his eyes trained directly on the floor in front of him and didn’t dare look up even as he sat. Mr. Lancer resumed his lecture as he went to rifle through his own desk, looking for everything Danny needed. Moments later another small stack of papers appeared before him. Danny busied himself looking through them until he heard a quiet, “Psst.”

Danny glanced to his left. That girl, Manson, was looking at him. She glanced down at her lap and Danny looked too, and saw a note she wanted to pass him. She quickly reached out and he just as quickly grabbed it. He unfolded it and it read, I’m Sam. Danny pulled out a pencil and wrote back, I’m Danny. He waited until the teacher wasn’t looking before passing it back. He wondered why the adults at school were people to be feared. It was another human custom he did not understand. Moments later, Sam passed the note back. Wanna sit with my friend and me at lunch? Danny looked up and saw her gesture with her head to the guy sitting behind her. That hat… Danny realized he’s seen these people before. His first day back, at the thrift store, he saw them in line behind Jazz. Right now the guy wasn’t paying attention, he was looking at something in his lap. Danny turned back to Sam and nodded. Sam smiled and flashed him a thumbs up.

After class Danny made his way back to his locker to get the proper textbook for his next period. As he zipped his backpack two large guys, two of the people whispering about him in class, appeared on either side of him. “Hey, ghost kid!” The blond one said, not so kindly. “So, is it true? Were you like human trafficked or something?”

Danny didn’t know what that meant. Of course he said nothing.

“I don’t know, Dash,” said the other, just as condescending as the first. “He seems too wimpy to have come back from that. He probably just ran away.”

Danny looked between the two and wondered if he was supposed to feel intimidated.

“Well, Kwan, if he’s a wimp,” said the blond one now known as Dash, and he hit his fist into his palm. “Then he needs to know what we do to wimps at this school.”

“Leave him alone!”

Danny looked over and saw Sam stalking toward them.

“Oh yeah, geek?” Dash challenged. “What are you going to do about it?”

Danny could tell from her facial expression that she already knew she had the upper hand. “Oh, I don’t know,” she mocked. “Just show everyone that picture I took of you at the movie theater last week, crying at that dumb chick flick.”

It definitely did the trick because Dash’s face went completely red, both in anger and embarrassment. He rounded on Danny, stuck a finger in his chest, and growled, “This isn’t over, ghost boy.” Danny watched him and his friend stomp off down the hall. He turned back to Sam and gave her a single nod in thanks.

“Those guys are jerks. Are you okay?” She asked. But Sam didn’t get to receive a response because the bell rang. They both looked up then back at each other. “I’ll see you at lunch.”

Danny watched as Sam walked off. He wondered why she was even talking to him in the first place, she didn’t know him and no one else was talking to him. She was… odd. But it wasn’t a bad thing.

Come lunchtime, Danny entered the cafeteria with the bagged lunch Jazz packed him that morning. The cafeteria was both the loudest room of all and the most crowded. But, he still liked it better than class, because at least here he had a bit more freedom. Danny knew that particular quirk would take the longest to get used to.

Of course he had rules to follow when he was with Clockwork but they were nothing as strict as this.

“Danny!” Danny looked over and saw Sam waving to him from a table in the corner, her friend sitting across from her. He was glancing between the two of them. Danny made his way over. “Glad you could make it.” She said as he sat next to her. “This is Tucker.”

Danny nodded at him.

“Strong silent type, huh? You don’t see a lot of those around these parts.” Tucker said.

Strong silent? Danny shook his head. They watched him pull out that small notebook from his pocket and begin to write, before flipping it around so they could see. I guess so… I can’t speak.

They seemed caught off guard for only a moment before Tucker spoke up again. “No worries, man. You know sign language? Sam and I do.”

Excitement immediately bubbled to the surface and Danny smiled for the first time since entering the school. He pushed aside his notebook and lifted his hands. “You guys are the first people I met who do!”

“Not surprising,” Sam said. “There’s not much diversity in this town.”

Danny tilted his head. “Then how do you guys know it?”

“Caught a nasty ear infection a few years ago.” Tucker explained. “It was pretty bad and I lost my hearing for a couple of days. It was only temporary but I remembered how frustrating it was the whole time. Once I got better, I decided to learn it so the world could be a little less frustrating for others, and Sam decided to learn with me.”

“It’s come in handy a few times,” Sam added. “Not just for communication but also when we want to talk trash about someone in front of them.”

Danny snorted.

“So,” Tucker said. “Is it like a medical thing or do you just not like to talk?”

“Tucker!” Sam chastised. “You can’t just ask someone that.”

Danny merely waved it off because he didn’t mind. It felt so nice to be able to talk to someone again so freely, it felt like he gained back a little bit of his freedom. His expression grew thoughtful as he answered, “Medical, I guess? It’s a long story but I haven’t been able to talk since I was four.”

Danny saw the way they exchanged glances at that. In that moment he realized they knew his story, too. He was four when he disappeared. All at once he grew uncomfortable again and began to fidget with the zipper on his jacket, but the tension didn’t last long because Tucker broke the silence with a chipper attitude. “Well, it’s a good thing you have us now. We can be your dutiful translators!”

Danny thought back to a Christmas three years ago. “Like, friends?”

“Not like friends,” Sam said. “Friends. Tucker and I decided you’re cool so you’re part of the squad now. Deal with it.”

Danny smiled and looked to Tucker. “Hey, whatever the lady says, goes. You’ll learn soon enough that arguing with her is a futile venture,” he winked.

Okay, then. Friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ao3 Notes: Sam and Tucker have finally entered the story! I wanted at least someone that Danny could freely communicate with and who better than his friends? Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a lovely day/night!

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